FTP

Hey all... What is the best way to FTP your stories? The current way we are doing it takes about 40min. Any recommendations please would be appreciated.
 

marstaton4

Well-known member
FTP'ing is just sending 1's and 0's through the interwebs. Probably the better question is what is the best compression scheme we can use to reduce the data rate and ultimately shrink the file size. The other variable that is almost always an unknown is what kind of upload speeds will you be able to get where you are at. Wireless "air" cards work well if you aren't in the middle of nowhere and aren't trying to push things at peak time where the network is bogged down.
 
My experience

There are many variables (i.e. internet connection speeds on both ends and file sizes that can affect your transfer rates). Without more specific details it is difficult to give you recommendations.

I'm sure there are others with more technical knowledge than me, but this has been my experience with ftp.
I ftp stories back to the station from sporting venues, hotels, and tv stations around the country. We use FCP and our station has a very high speed download connection. If the upload speed is fast enough (32mbps, which is a rare find) I can send back an 1:10 uncompressed package in about two minutes. If sending from a really low upload connection, I either use QuickTime Conversion or Compressor. Using QuickTime Conversion to compress the timeline to a QuickTime movie with h.264 codec takes a little bit longer to export the movie, but it reduces the file size to help reduce the amount of time spent transferring. Using Apple's Compressor software to convert the video to h.264 does a much better job at reducing the file size but takes a good bit longer (25 minutes for an interview that was about 5 minutes, and that doesn't include transfer time). It took my file from something around 550mb down to around 85mb.



If you are unsure about your connection speed, this website will tell you what it is. http://speedtest.net/

Hope that helps some.
 

SeattleShooter

Well-known member
h.264. I get about a 2 minute clip uploaded in about 3:30 minutes. But it all depends on what your settings are for your compression and how fast your network for upload is.
 

marstaton4

Well-known member
We are using Avid newscutter on a HP laptop... Sending the files as QuickTime using 4g cards. Do I need to compress files?Thanks for your help!
If you say that it is taking too long as it is, that is the only way to speed up the transfer instead of getting a faster connection.
 

Necktie Boy

Well-known member
Crush that file! It sounds that the files are big! Find out what the server can play out. One station can playback Mpegs. Those files are usually half the size.
 
If nobody on the other end is planning to re edit it h.264 is the best thing out there right now but it is a delivery codec when editing is needed on the other end than it will not work as well.
 

zac love

Well-known member
Check out this site out:
http://latakoo.com/

In a nutshell - 1. get a latakoo account 2. install the app on your computer 3. export edited file to desktop (full quality / raw codec) 4. app compresses & uploads the file 5. server generates a link & re-compresses the file to various versions depending on the end user's needs (aka news room editor) 6. e-mail link to news room / client.

Full disclosure: This was started by a reporter I used to work with (until we were all laid off a week before Christmas 2008) & when I ran into her at NAB last year, she started talking about the company she & her husband had created.

I was extremely impress when I tested it out. There are a couple things that I think can be improved (reminds self to e-mail them my thoughts), but it works really well & a good option that doesn't sacrifice quality if you don't have a wicked fast upload speed.
 

Robin

Well-known member
If nobody on the other end is planning to re edit it h.264 is the best thing out there right now but it is a delivery codec when editing is needed on the other end than it will not work as well.
Excuse ignorance.. but why not good for editing.. because its so compressed ?
I gave up my first FTP experience last night.. Fetch said 13hrs !!.. and even then the receiving server seemed to stop after one file!
In the end divided footage into 4 folder,s and send via yousendit (max 2GB) ..much quicker.. although they ofcourse have to deal with the down load..

Thanks
 
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