How big is good enough ?

[cbdane]

Originally Posted by jared_of_atlanta

If you're on dialup then you shouldn't be downloading such files anyway.

Edit: impolite response retracted. I don't like a smart aleck, especially when it's me...

[jared_of_atlanta]

Originally Posted by cbdane

So thoughtfully expressed... Do you also need to check where I live, what car I drive, and the limit on my credit card?

I already know those details...Mr. BMW of Bay Area, CA.

[Mercuriell]

One of the perennial problems Bob and I have is the filming and encoding of build videos - filmed resolution SD/HD and subsequent encoding can change a file 11MB to 250MB quite easily - the sound quality, the video resolution and the frame size 320 - 640 - 1020 - 1900 all affect download size - of course you can limit duration of video as well eg HD short video say 5 mins could be the same as 15 mins SD

Bear in mind also the bigger the download the greater the bandwidth the boss has to pay for too !

So the poll is - what is the acceptable limit in download size ?

[crash-alot]

I've got a 50Mb cable line so bring it on.

In my opinion, it would be nice if videos can be encoded at higher resolution so that it can be viewed in fullscreen without becoming too blurry.

Other option is to offer both SD and HD for us to choose from.

Jaco

[tomra]

My 2C...

I would say the quality Finelss is currently doing is pretty much close to perfect. Keep in mind that these videos is gonna be used as reference material for quite some time to come and personally i think it´s a good thing to take that into consideration. Bandwidth on the user end is gonna get better as times goes by. I have watched Finless´s vids on the T-Rex 600E build and while they are great i would love to see them in a larger resolution.

[mcnabbwr]

Computers are getting faster and storage is getting larger along with cheaper, so I say bring it on the bigger the better.

[mapleleafs]

BIGGER AND BETTER.

Please dont't take offense to this Mercuriell but your video's have crapy resolution and are very small....i actually find it hard sometimes to see what is going on and find it a bit irritating at times watching because of the poor resolution.

Bobs on the other hand have good size and resolution...not great but totally fine.

[halley]

I appreciate helifreak.com hosting the storage and bandwidth for these videos, but I wonder why not use a third-party? There are plenty of free choices like youtube and vimeo, and they tend to store a high-quality version and can offer reduced-quality versions automatically, for those who don't have a major bandwidth pipe of their own. Only possible downside I see is that they stream each time, rather than everyone downloading and storing their own copies... which I see as a benefit but others might not.

[Mercuriell]

I'm really surprised at the results so far but the message is clear - bigger is better ! OK I'll upload number 3 in 640x360 - that's 160MB for about 10 mins - is that too much at one hit !

[JJ101]

Originally Posted by jared_of_atlanta

If you're on dialup then you shouldn't be downloading such files anyway.

If you're still on dial-up you shouldn't even be dreaming about this heli anyways -

[Skiddz]

John,

I'm doing 720x480 and running right around 70-80MB for 15 mins with my vids.. Granted that's at 15fps which is plenty for build vid stuff..

[Mercuriell]

Good advice Kevin - I never thought about reducing the frame rate - on computer no probs but I can iomagine all sort of pull down errors if they were upscaled onto a DVD

[RMG2]

Personally, and I have mentioned this before on this site, there are some videos on this site that I simply cannot view because of the time it takes MY puter to download the files. I'm on cable but through a wireless router and I just can't download really quickly.

My vote is for slighlty less quality and smaller file sizes.

[mapleleafs]

Originally Posted by RMG2

My vote is for slighlty less quality and smaller file sizes.

time to upgrade to DSL my friend.....

[MavriC]

Originally Posted by JJ101

If you're still on dial-up you shouldn't even be dreaming about this heli anyways -

Why is that?

[RMG2]

Originally Posted by mapleleafs

time to upgrade to DSL my friend.....

Are you of the opinion that DSL is faster than cable (not dial-up)? I thought the opposite was true???

[Finless]

Originally Posted by Mercuriell

Good advice Kevin - I never thought about reducing the frame rate - on computer no probs but I can iomagine all sort of pull down errors if they were upscaled onto a DVD

Yep my build videos are 14FPS. This REALLY helps the file size! You dont need a fast frame rate for build videos as there is no high speed action

My flying vids are 30FPS but most flights arent over 8 minutes.

Now another thing to consider.... Bandwidth from Helifreak and cost. If you made them larger but made the segments smaller in time, the total build would still be the same amount of download bandwidth. Same for the user... tons to download. Personally I agree with many that the the size I am doing now is about right for most people to download.

Bob

[Mercuriell]

CAn't seem to reduce FR on either of my editing progs (Power Director and Studio 11) - have to have another look at Sony Vegas and Avid being PC based - meantime I'll re encode the first 2 to make higher res available

[vermonster]

Originally Posted by RMG2

Are you of the opinion that DSL is faster than cable (not dial-up)? I thought the opposite was true???

The new version of DSL is way faster than cable. They will be installing it here in a few weeks. I get to be the test idiot............

This is the site they are using to test your speed.

http://www.speedtest.net/index.php

[MavriC]

On Rogers Cable here in Canada, I'm getting 10Mb/s down and 512Kb/s up. Maximum would be 10Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up (higher plan).

I'm happy with this, mind you I'm capped at 60Gb per month, with maximum (higher plan) of 95Gb per month.

Rick.