Mike,
I agree, format is the big hurdle.
Course, I just did a test where I encoded a short file in both QT7 and WMV formats. I uploaded them both to another site I host on GoDaddy. Downloaded them around 100KB/Sec and played them both on my Mac and they both played fine with Flip4Mac WMV installed.

So, even though I'm Mac based, I wouldn't put up a fuss if I had to put up a WMV file for judging.

Most FTP programs are pretty easy. You enter in the domain name, the user id and password then drag over the file you want to upload.
Fairly basic. I'm sure it would be pretty easy to be talked through.
I can help anyone Mac based.
I'm sure there's someone who'd be willing to help the PC masses as well.

Don't sweat the $'s. I just believe in this project and want to see it get off the ground. So anything I can do to help out, I will.

I just get confused with all of the port settings and such. Would be happy to help in any way that an idiot can.

Mike

Are you Mac or PC based?
I use CyberDuck on my Mac and there's no need for port settings etc. Open it up, enter the domain name, user id and password and you're in.

PC and no snide comments please!!!!! :) I actually think that age has more to do with it, mine not the computers! Oh, I'm using Filezilla!

Mike

Mike,
I looked at the screenshot on the Filezilla page. Looks allot more complex than CyberDuck.
I'll set up a hosting site for a domain I don;t use and you can play around with uploading and downloading stuff.
I'll try to help you as much as I can but being Mac based, I can't walk you through FileZilla.

But, if you've used it before it should be a walk in the park.

flip4mac is not free, so wmv is out as a format--it works on my machine but only barely. h.264 is out because it seems to anger the PC people. this has to be easy for everyone, or it defeats its own purpose, which means being able to provide two sets of explicit step-by-step instructions for web dunces like me, one for mac folks and one for PC people, and also being able to agree upon a universal formats standard.

people volunteering to kick in some resources is lovely, but i'm not interested in charging anyone fees or incurring participants' costs for downloading proprietary software. that's not really the dvinfo spirit.

lisa's point would still apply. you can post to our group site using the chosen universal format, and provide links to the higher quality versions. can all the major NLEs output to sorenson 3 or mp4? i think those are the logical choices, and even if they are lower quality than .wmv or h.264, it is light years better than the compression schemes of the popular content communities.....

The Flip4Mac viewer is free. You only need to pay a fee if you want to edit WMV files etc.

I'd be happy to do the step by steps for Macs with CyberDuck It's free so it won't cost Mac users a dime to use if they don't already know or use a different FTP program.

Sorenson3 is fine with me.

on my old, lower end mac (1GB powerbook), which is equivalent to what many players may be using to edit DV, wmv playback on flip4mac is stuttery.

cyberduck is dunce-proof and is what i use, so if you could do a step-by-step using cyberduck for mac users, that should suffice. great free program.

since i'm not a PC person, can someone volunteer to put something similar together for PC users? internet explorer has built-in FTP, doesn't it? that's pretty universal. we'll have to play with these instructions a bit and bullet-proof them, but i think it would be great to have a single site for viewers to visit and also to settle on a universal format.

can anyone think of a reason *not* to use sorenson 3? now's the time to hammer out these things! is it a good output option for all of the major and minor NLEs? i can only speak for FCP and little iMovie.....

i'm quite intent on the dunce-proofing. one of the reasons i signed up for my first-ever DV Challenge was to push myself to learn a little bit about web delivery. we want complete beginners to be able to play, too.

FTP and more
 

As far as PC FTP. Yes, IE has it built in (very easy to use). There is also the program i've been using for many many many years - WS-FTP. The Lite version has always been free, I think i started using it in '95.

I could write something up for using the IE ftp though, since that is built into Windows and is (in my opinion) the easiest thing out there for simple FTP on a PC.

In catching up on the messages in this thread, I got to thinking. Meryem - might want to bug Chris about creating a subforum for the contest. I think that would keep it cleaner, especially once the thing gets going.

One last thing, once things are decided upon - I'll volunteer to help build the website. I can even look into creating a file upload app so that we don't have to worry about FTP at all, can just do it through the web. I'll just need to know what languages GoDaddy hosting supports.

excellent, lisa, thank you for stepping up.

so lisa will design our site and make a bullet-proof set of upload instructions for PC users, and kevin is kicking in the domain name, hosting, and a bullet-proof set of upload instructions for mac users. this is taking shape nicely, thanks to you both for all your offers of assistance and for helping to solve the knottiest problem of all, the hosting and formatting.

i have already had a conversation with chris regarding permission to run the contest through his site, and he has already green-lighted it and offered additional resources, including developing a separate forum. i don't pretend to speak for him, but his M.O. is usually to observe the happenings and to make sure there is a real need first. i think if our first contest works out well, he will gladly make us a separate forum. (remember, this thread started as a feeler, to gauge interest....).

Hi guys....Hey all this sounds great!

Although it's been offered already, I'll be happy to help with the webpage design. I've been involved in quite a few over the years and I'd like to give a few hours to this.

Mat

Lisa, Mat, thanks for offering to help with the website.

As soon as we know which of the two domains we officially want to go with I'll get the site turned on, email you the login info and you guys can have at it. :)

let's go with uwolchallenge.com because if/when we do get a designated sub-forum, if this thing flies, then that will be its most likely abbreviated title....then the website can closely match the sub-forum....

mat, thanks for offering to pitch in. it will be awesome to see what you all (uwol) cook up...

Just a heads up. The domain has been setup and the hosting is happpening now. Meryem has the info so that'll be passed on to the web development team.
Once that's done I'll work on getting the FTP upload directory done and setting up the user name and password to enable everyone to upload their films to the site.

A Simple and Humble Solution, Perhaps?
 

Suppose everyone just mailed in a tape cassette and they were all uploaded in exactly the same way? If all entrants could just forego the perceived need to be computer-centric about it, the discussed inequalities could be eliminated. After all, we're making video, not demonstrating our level of cyber-sophistication. I believe that all film and video festivals offer the option of mailing-in film or tapes.

I'm not a Luddite-----I just like my VCRs better than my computer, for doing simple editing-----and everything I do is simple, by necessity.