what a terrific offer. if you're serious about it, i'll take you up on it. how about:

underwateroverland.com
uwolchallenge.com

those are both good and probably not taken....

we accept all voluntary offers.

i'm no web guru by any means. but if you can set this up for us, it would be fabulous, solve that issue to everyone's satisfaction, and give us a centralized site. this seems to be the one thing that causes dissent, and if someone is willing to step up and solve the problem, i am willing to accept the help. that would be wonderful!

i think encoding should be something universal, which means flash, sorenson, or mp4, at least that's my limited understanding....someone with more knowledge about this should chime in. just don't start up the whole .wmv versus h.264 thingie. that never goes anywhere....those should both be off the list!

I registered both domain names.
Everyone can vote on which one they prefer or I can register another one.

Anyone have a preference on who to host with? Most of my stuff is hosted with GoDaddy but I don't have a problem hosting somewhere else if that's what everyone wants.

I have about 7 free hosting credits with GoDaddy right now. They each have a Data Transfer Rate of 250,000 MB and a Total Disk Space of 5,000 MB.

But, I don;t have a problem adding more to it or going to another host.
We can do either a Linux or Windows server.

If we get a consent on the hosting maybe we can get someone with some graphic artist talent to design some things for the site.

Meryem, once we get going you can set it all up how you want it to go and run it however anyone wants.

I'll just volunteer the space and foot the bill. :)

whoa, that was incredibly speedy! nice. thanks, kevin.

can you outline a procedure on how we can all upload into this same space? we have to make this fairly simple, for web dunces like me.

People can be given the password and can upload via FTP and once the deadline is here the password can be changed.

That sounds great. The last hurdle is deciding if everyone has to use the same program for encoding. Don't think this is feasible. Just like the DV challenge, everyone should be responsible to post their movie in a format that most if not all can see.

For example, the latest QT format has problems working with some programs. If you post your movie with it the movie may not be seen. I know I had problems with the latest QT when I used PPro 1.5, but I think it is OK with PPro 2.0. Mine movies are generally better in a Windows codec.

Where do I send my money to help pay for the site? Can you give specific server info I can understand, I’m an IDIOT?

Even if I never enter a movie, I will help when I can.

Mike

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.

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.

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.

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.

So, does that mean you're offering to capture them all and upload them for viewing? :)

I know I don't want to have to set up a VCR and capture a VHS tape on digital and then capture that and then compress it and then upload it.

Heck, I won't even dump my own stuff TO a VHS tape let alone go the other way with it. :)

steve, the reason that most film fests offer the option of mailing in hard copies is that these artifacts mirror the final delivery form. our final delivery form is the web, not an audience sitting together in a dark room. transcoding and uploading DVDs and VHS tapes is potentially a mountain of work.

we're working to make this as user-friendly and simple as possible, to wade our way through the layers of competing platforms and codecs, so that as many players as possible can compete and as many viewers as possible can view.

if you need help figuring out delivery, we can probably give you some assistance when the time comes. i would love to see some of your work and hope you can sign up for one of these.

So, does that mean you're offering to capture them all and upload them for viewing? ------Heck, I won't even dump my own stuff TO a VHS tape let alone go the other way with it. :)

You thought I was serious! I knew that no one else would go for it and I certainly wouldn't even joke about using VHS. I have too many painful memories of seeing my best work reduced to that format (and shown on a 15-year old TV with only an RF input).

you nut! so you're serious about bigfoot sightings and the mysterious disappearing women but not serious about VHS....you folks from oregon spend waaay too much time in the treetops....

you nut! so you're serious about bigfoot sightings and the mysterious disappearing women but not serious about VHS....you folks from oregon spend waaay too much time in the treetops....

That we do Meryem! That we do! lol!

~Gabriel

Just out my most recent experience with DVC7, on the PC side, I got great results using Vegas 7 and rendering to the Quicktime presets. I did two Quicktime files, one low, and one high. I also did two Windows Media files low and high, and all came out well from the Vegas preset renders.

you nut! so you're serious about bigfoot sightings and the mysterious disappearing women but not serious about VHS....you folks from oregon spend waaay too much time in the treetops....
LOL, this could be a future topic in the UWOL-challenge: The treetop people!

that would be fun, for a lark, "local mythological beasts"--i can't think of any in colorado, but new mexico is loaded with them. aliens, chupacabra, etc.

or how about one on local extinct species. we may not get any actual footage, but the stories of trying to locate them would probably be quite interesting.

around here, the abert's squirrel, a black squirrel with pointy spock ears, which i saw commonly throughout the 1980s, all but disappeared as a result of plague, according to local rangers. but about two years ago, i started seeing them again, and now there's a little population explosion happening.

omigosh!

mat thompson rocks! he has designed us a fabulous logo for the UWOL Challenge!

you WILL want a t-shirt! (no, they're not available yet. we need to run one of these first....)

kevin and mat are knocking out a website where we will upload our videos, and if the logo is any indicator, it's gonna be great. huge props to both those guys....

the sign-up thread is going up this friday, giving everyone a little extra time to get on board because of the holidays.

January 1 the theme will be announced and the contest kicks off.

start warming up those cameras and booking those travel arrangements....

I think this is a good idea. I'm relatively new to underwater video but hope to meet like minded idiots who don't mind freezing their butts off to get some good footage (grin) and learn from them.

Steve

PS: Wreck diving in the UK is definately freezing.

that would be fun, for a lark, "local mythological beasts"--i can't think of any in colorado, but new mexico is loaded with them. aliens, chupacabra, etc.

or how about one on local extinct species. we may not get any actual footage, but the stories of trying to locate them would probably be quite interesting.

around here, the abert's squirrel, a black squirrel with pointy spock ears, which i saw commonly throughout the 1980s, all but disappeared as a result of plague, according to local rangers. but about two years ago, i started seeing them again, and now there's a little population explosion happening.

I was wondering when aliens were going to get in here. (grin)

Steve

How about we just stick to artistic filmmaking.

:)

I totally agree. So many forums and threads get hijacked by people with an axe to grind that it's difficult to find the good info. I'm just starting to do my own editing and got myself a CoreDuo iMac 20 with Final Cut Studion and it's added completely new scope to my video shooting.

If I recall, DSE is a skydiver, and will likely wrap up the over land aspects pretty well......is he Scuba certified too ?

I'm a SCUBA diver and just venturing into "creative" video....... I Hope...... (eeek)

Steve

welcome, steve. i checked out your youtube stuff. very cool.

had any kraken sightings lately? heh.

I'm a SCUBA diver and just venturing into "creative" video....... I Hope...... (eeek)

Steve

I think there is a "slash" thats backward in your uTube URL :)

welcome, steve. i checked out your youtube stuff. very cool.

had any kraken sightings lately? heh.

Kraken sightings????? There's always one isn't there (sigh)....... (grin)

Lucky I didn't tell you about my project in Loch Ness isn't it really (grin)

Steve

I think there is a "slash" thats backward in your uTube URL :)


Thanks...... Fixed it.......

Steve

Where have you been all my life???

I just got off the phone with a mutual friend of ours and she said you were running this new contest. How very cool. ---> Bradley needs to visit other forums more often!

You know I'm in!

Best wishes~
Bradley

PS: I hope you are feeling much better

hey, look who's in, my favorite award-winning videographer and photographer. and voice-over specialist!

looking forward to seeing some of that fabulous wyoming world you inhabit.

p.s., yes feeling better, i think shoveling three feet of snow knocked the vestiges of flu right outta me....

sign-up thread is up!

it's here!

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=594652#post594652

check it out and most of all, SIGN UP. you have to sign up there. this thread was to gauge interest, that thread makes you an official contender!

Congrats to Meryem on getting this thing off the ground, or out of the water, depending on how you look at it. At her request, I am closing the thread and wish to direct you to the sign-up thread for further discussion on the matter.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=82318

regards,

-gb-