The Future of BumpWorthy (PLEASE READ)

[crab]

Hey everyone.  It's been quite a while since the site has been updated, and for that, I apologize.  I am starting a full time job sometime this month, and lately I haven't had much time to work with the site.


The Future

Soon, I'll start working on a system to allow users to upload their own bumps (videos), and then have a moderator approve of them and move them to an appropriate section of the site.

Example:  You just saw a new bump on the block, so you record it the next time you see it.  You then upload it to a section of this site.  From there, a moderator will preview it and approve it for the site, and subsequently move it to an appropriate section, such as "current", in this case.

For the future, it is my hope that this site can become run almost entirely by the users and moderators, and that I myself won't have to worry about it, for the sole reason that I just don't have time.  However, things that I would still do will include adding new sections, stepping in if things get out of hand on the boards, handling any good suggestions, and the basic maintenance/upgrades required on the site.


The only real problem I foresee with this plan is that users will probably be submitting all kinds of different format video, such as wmv, quicktime, divx, etc.. so we will have to come up with some system for this.

My first thought, and probably the easiest for me, is to simply force everyone to submit videos in the format currently used on the site, which is DivX.  This is a codec that anyone can download in order to play videos, but the catch is encoding - because you must pay to get the divx encoder, most people will be discouraged from recording/encoding their videos.

Another solution I see to this would be to use a YouTube style system where I write a bunch of stuff to let people upload most any video file they want, and then let the server process them and reencode them to a format playable in a little Flash player.  This would be the ideal and most robust, but would take quite some time and effort on my part.

The third option, I guess, is to switch formats to the Xvid codec.  Xvid is open source (free) and users can use it to both encode and play videos.  This seems like the optimal solution to me, and I will probably go with this unless there are any objections.


Please feel free to comment on any of this below.

[Beefy]

Any format except Real is fine with me.

Keep in mind that if you go to XviD, you still might have different file formats because Windows usually puts XviD into avi, while Macs usually put XviD into mp4.

[mongo]

The easiest choice would be the DivX, but it's true what you say that it would discourage some people since you have to pay to encode. I think that really the best choice would be XViD, although what Beefy says is true. Still, it seems to be the best solution since it's free and all, and still downloadable.

[Laughingboy69]

I'm gonna throw this one out there...but is there a problem with mpeg?

Everyone can play it, and there are free software everywhere to convert filetypes to mpeg if there is a problem with avi's and the like.

And I dont know all of the details, but what about .mov? i dont know if there is a free method of making a .mov,  but thats mainly because i use adobe after effects and the like...

and now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[mongo]

You pose a really good point there, since many mpeg converters are available and the format is a standard, compatible with every system... I think the issue might be the filesize, since mpegs have a tendency to go a little big sometimes. Still, it's a nice one in my opinion, you just have to tweak it until you get a nice filesize and good quality. About .mov, dunno if there is a free way to convert, really doubt it though since it's Quicktime property, maybe Quicktime Alternative might do it but I'm not entirely sure of that. Still, those are solutions.

[Beefy]

I've never used QuickTime Alternative, so I don't know if it lets you encode mov files or if it's only a player.

I'd say that to make mov files you need QuickTime Pro ($30), which lets you put H.264, Sorenson Video 3  1-pass, or MPEG-4 video into a mov file.  If you want Sorenson Video 3  2-pass, then you have to buy the Sorenson Video 3 Pro codec ($300).

Needless to say, mov can get expensive.  So if you're going to buy a codec, you might as well get DivX ($20).

[daventurebro]

well you can convert anything to AVI for free you dont need divx converter. and if you do go down this route i can always get a cracked version of divx converter and upload it to a free file host and post the link here.

But im gonna have to go with lauphingboy and say MPEG because everyone can play it and its just may fav codec.