Here We Go Again (Updated with Restoration Progress)

[SFDebris]

Restoration Progress
Everything has been restored with the following exceptions:
Lord of the Rings
Worst of the Worst
Bios (except Kirk, Spock, and Garak)
Film intro videos for:
-It! The Terror From Beyond Space
-Dark City
-Godzilla 1985
-The Man Who Changed His Mind
-Dune
-Forbidden Planet

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I've had a few questions regarding how the upload is going and if anyone can help. Sadly, the answer to the second is "no." I thought I'd explain the process here so it becomes a bit more clear.

To explain, around the time of the Blip shutdown I decided that what would be best would be to standardize the entire process. I knew at the time it would wind up taking longer, but I thought in the end it was better to be organized, on the remote chance that this would ever happen again. Ha.

All the files related to a review are thus given the same label - for instance, The Changeling is s037 (toS episode number 37). So the doc file, the editing file, the raw file, the final review, the video thumbnail, the leader thumbnail, and so on, all are labeled s037. Thus matching up what goes with it is easy, you don't have to look to see whether it's under S for Star Trek: The Changeling, or C for Changeling, or T for The Changeling, just look for the same label everywhere.

I have a spreadsheet then of all the info: one tab for all the videos, as well as one for each series that lists all of its episodes and matches them up with their labels. The video page has: Category, Series, Title, Date, Description, File, Link, and after that Additional (listing the number of additional videos there might be) and a repeating Title and Link to allow any number of additional videos. There's a number of subroutines I've built into the spreadsheet that then uses the data; one button, for instance, takes this data and turns it into a php file and updates other files so that the new video page can be uploaded; another one generates the linking code I submit to ChannelAwesome in their preferred format; another generates the early access page for Patreon supporters, and so on.

So by now, migrating hosts has gotten much easier, it involves:
1) Uploading the file
2) Put the correct file information on the new host
3) Get the linking code and put it in the spreadsheet
4) Generate the new webpage

Every host has its quirks. Because of the way Vimeo works (with only 20 gigs per week allowed, and no rolling over), getting to that 20 quickly each week is the most important, so Monday or Tuesday, I'll upload about 15 gigs or so, with the rest to come later in the week (this allows room for me to upload the new videos then before the weekend and know I'll have the room). This is a pain because, while I can upload multiple files at once, Vimeo has a bug where, just because you SAY to upload the file, doesn't mean it will actually grab it with the rest - you might select six but it will only start uploading four. So even if there's a folder with forty files that all need to be uploaded, it's better to go three at a time to queue up to easily see if one is missed, and which one. But once they're in the queue then it's fine, I've had over a hundred videos queued up for upload before so unless the browser crashes (fingers crossed) it's good.

Steps two and three then happen at the same time. I have a programmable Razer gamepad with one specific build set up for exactly this occasion (yes, it's become that frequent). First button generates a text document with the info about the video for Vimeo; I open it and copy the file label. Switching back to the Vimeo list of all my uploaded files, I hit button two, which opens the find box and searches for that file. I then open it for editing. I then copy and past things like title and description (buttons three and four are copy and paste, respectively), copy the file name again, upload the video thumbnail (same file name), save it, copy the video's identification code, paste it into the spreadsheet for "Link" and move on to the next.

When they're all in there, I have a mass-upload program that generates pages for every file and just upload the whole damn thing all at once.

So the first and last part are mostly automated; it's the middle two that are involved. Each takes a few minutes to do, it's just that a few minutes multiplied by a couple hundred adds up to a very boring day, so it's one of those things that gets squeezed in whenever I have a couple of hours of down time to knock out forty or fifty videos.

If you're curious, my website and spreadsheet is programmed to recognize Youtube links and handle them differently than Vimeo, that's why they can be mixed in without a problem.

And that's how it works.


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Vidme just announced they are shutting down in two weeks. You would think that by the fourth time I have to pull up stakes I would be used to it.

Since the news just broke I will be examining my options shortly. In the immediate, the plan is that I will continue releasing Arena, Thrill of the Hunt, and the Hermit's Journey Part 2 as originally planned. The remainder of Dragon Age II is going to be put on hold until first quarter 2018. I'm optimistic that some content will continue in December, and come hell or high water the Christmas show will go up as planned.

Please bear with me as we once again walk this exasperating path. I'll provide more details as I hammer things out.

Update 1: A Man Alone will not be released on the 10th as planned.

Update 2:
After much consideration and examination of options, I've decided on the new hosting situation: Vimeo.

It wasn't an easy choice, but Vimeo hit the following criteria:
-longevity (the site has lasted for several years and recent activity has shown further investment rather than scaling back)
-privacy (to avoid bots ruining my day)
-tech support (so that I won't be the one trying to figure out what's wrong!)
-likely survival of net neutrality repeal (they're large enough that they would likely be able to prevent degradation of playback by throttling ISPs)
-possibility of playlists (they have albums and supposedly a widget that will allow them to be embeded and auto-played)

In addition, plans on further integrating Youtube into the site will be further expanded, but in a way that will (hopefully) avoid problems. Don't be surprised if you see some activity over there this week.

Other options were considered, but were ultimately too expensive or too risky. Net neutrality-repeal was one of the most crucial factors in this decision, I don't want to go with anything small or self-hosting and wind up having the videos throttled.

This did come with some down sides though.
-no integrated ads; their monetization method is microtransactions, but since I already have a Patreon account that's something I have no use for
-cost; Vimeo (at the level I require) required a massive up front payment.

For that reason I will be temporarily re-opening the queue for certain items, with the understanding that it will be a VERY long time before the come up. I hate doing it, but if people are willing to wait then I'll happy accept help in keeping the show running smoothly. Link: http://sfdebris.com/donate.php

The vimeo program I'm on allows 20 gigs of uploads a week. Considering there's more than 160 gigs worth of videos, and I'll be uploading new content as well, we're looking at some time in February for the full restoration of the site's content.

[Ghilz]

Hope the transition goes smoothly and with minimal hurdles for you.

(Wish I could say I was surprised by Foldable Human's video on Vidme and other content platform sort of made it clear Vidme wasn't going to last long...)

[CodingJungle]

sigh, no rest for the wicked...how much bandwidth do you need a month?

[MithrandirOlorin]

On Reddit I just saw someone mention a site called DTube.

[TheNewTeddy]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[fyve]

Ever consider hosting your videos on your own Plex server? You can run it all in the cloud. I'm not sure about embedding vidoes on your website with it though. Maybe just the back catalog for patreons hosted that way.

[BunBun299]

Can't say I'm going to miss Vidme at all. Those videos have been choking up on me for months. Makes watching videos on this site a huge pain.

I hope the transition goes smoothly.

[Admiral X]

I can only hope that there's some kind of viable alternative, because dealing with YouTube is just frustrating.

[griffeytrek]

I wonder how Pornhub would react if they suddenly had a bunch of nerds uploading and watching non porn content on their sites?

[Admiral X]

Is it possible to stream on one's own website from there?