idisk?

i know this isnt about FCP really but i was looking for input on the .mac idisk feature. i have clients that cant always come down to the studio, and if i could put a quicktime video of semi good quality on it for viewing we could communicate over the phone, or i could put a promo of my work for potential clients. its one gig of space, not sure if thats enough or not. Just wondering if its worked for any of you, so let me know.
Mahalos
Jai

GOOD QUESTION. i just got a .mac subscription last month for this same reason.

i have my own domain/hosting setup where i do exactly what youre talking about. and its MUCH simpler, , more powerful, less branded and overall a better experience than that of the idisk BUT the one BIG problem is that i pay $124/year for my hosting and i only get 500megs of space. so my problem was that i had 740 megs worth of files to upload. - and some of you may remember my frantic posting, i had to do this just hours before hurricane rita blew through my neighborhood and fed ex had been down for the previous 24 hours.

so idisk kinda saved my butt

i love idisk because:
- huge storage
- super cheap for what you get

i hate idisk because:
- the "pseudo-FTP" upload process does NOT give an accurate display of data rate, progress and time remaining. it will zip through 99% of the file at what appears to be ungodly fast speeds, then just sit there for an undetermined time and you have no idea of where you actually are in the upload process.
- the consumerish and kind of fruity, apple branded web interface doesnt allow you to "brand" your space as your own.

and remember, anytime you are exporting videos for web view, you need to compress them appropriately whether you use idisk OR your own server.

sorenson, mpeg4, flv, whatever... and not much bigger than say 320x240 or thereabouts. and generally keep the frame rate (if not untouched) in even multiples of the source.

I make MP4 files (or sorenson .mov if I know the client is on a PC) and drop them into the .movies folder. Then I just send them the link.... which I figured out is -

homepage.mac.com/yourdotmacacountname/.movies/nameofmovie

If you use .macs "movie" page - it will always squeeze it doesn't to 320x240.. but if you just give them the link.. it plays whatever size you make it. Plus no apple logos all over the place - but I think you can get rid of those in the settings.

Yes, the time indicator does suck. I have no idea why they can't show you a real progress bar. I'm betting the first 99% is it loading into your cache, then it actually starts the upload for the last percent.

And like I said before - I work with a lot of directors who all have dot mac accounts, and we toss files around to each others public folders all the time. So simple.

For the money, Idisk is a good deal for quick upload of comps for clients.....it's worked great so far - I often squeeze down to a small or medium sized real player (most PC clients seem to have that) it plays with good sound quality - and for the size fairly good crud free video......

Have tried to sqeeze a small WMV out of Sorenson, Cleaner and Flip4mac - but the files are always enormous compared to Real Player (same size and frame rate)

Yes - the upload progress indicated should be fixed - but it does it all in the background - so you can go back and keep editing while it does it's thing.

Andy

You can Brand iDisk homepage (kind of you won't be at your own domain) by writing your own HTML site putting that folder in your sites folder you can then on the .Mac homepage point to that site.
Click on the add button then at the bottom click on Advanced and point to external html and then find the index file of your site. Here's more info.
[help.apple.com]



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Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

Oops this page is ugly but one that I have done.
[homepage.mac.com]



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Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

thanks for the tip!

you are still spelling "you're" wrong in your quote

Agreed on the progress bar- sucks!
However, .mac for me has been invaluable. Posting videos, promo reels, file sharing, email, etc. I couldn't be more pleased. Also allows the ability to change ISP's while keeping a consistent internet presence. I actually pointed my domain troychristian.com at my .mac homepage so that I can personally keep bios, rsumes, reels, etc. updated without having to learn html- or pay a webmaster (the flakiest bunch on the planet) I'm a big fan of it. Plus, I use iSync to keep my laptop, .mac and deskop in sync. My desktop address book crashed just yesterday. Re-synced with .mac and restored all info in minutes.

That's my 2 cents....

Troy

"you are still spelling "you're" wrong in your quote"

God and I just got scolded from my friend for that as well.
Basic Basic Basic.
It's my signature actually.



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Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

and you should also put the whole thing in quotes...
the uninitiated might think that was part of your reply

**** I'm starting to think your going to make me put my bubble gum on my nose for the duration of class like my 4th grade English teacher did. **** that hurt.



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Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

no, not at all. not my point. be who you are.

i have just found your "sig" misleading and a bit unclear.
if you are going to use a sig quote, it does it an injustice if you apply it incorrectly.

the way you use it, it just serves as dangling text at the end of other content and its MAY be hard to discern between it and the content.

in our industry, the more clearly you communicate, the better off you are...

regards - wg

thanks everyone for your input, looks like a good investment. $10 a month for an increase in production and $ sounds like a smart idea. Thanks alot.

Jai

Wayne,
You are getting ripped of bro. I get 5 GIGs of space for about $70/year. The only thing getting cheaper is web space. Very competitive field.

KM

but i failled to mention round the clock on demand tech support. no discernable downtime in over 4 years, and discounts on all other (last i counted 6) domains.

i could probably get cheaper deals, but ive yet to see better service - aside from that 5 gig thing - who is your host?

I never mentioned this because I am an advocate of iDisk but my domain is on Start Logic and I get 5 Gigs space and 60 gigs transfer for $90.00 a year. They give me all the tools like PHP, Stats, Etc... Also they have Phone support for free which is a big one. Right now it looks like they have a special for $1.00 a month. [startlogic.com]



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Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.