Friday 3 July 2015

You get what you pay for

I had a message from a Board Member of the pub, asking if it would be ok to show the video mapping event on screen at the end of the AGM which is coming up this Sunday.

Fine, I said, but the best copy on You Tube has a fault with the soundtrack which repeats itself quietly but obviously, a second or so before the climactic build up which ends with the bell going 'bong'. The more I listened to it, the more bloody irritating it became, so I asked the film-maker to clean-up the soundtrack for us, which she duly did and sent me a compressed copy of about 380 MBs. All fixed and much better, so I said I would forward it on using the We Transfer system of sending large files which email alone cannot handle.

Here is the latest version on You Tube (you could be the 4th person in the world to have viewed it so far...):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTacFNEi68&feature=youtu.be

A couple of days before, I had complained to my server about how expensive our broadband was, especially since we do not watch any TV channels unless they are streamed through iPlayer as a catch-up. They put me through to their loyalty department quickly (they are not normally quick) before I left them for a different server.

The bloke in that department said he could knock-off £10 per month and give me unlimited usage of the net, so long as I signed up for 18 months. I said no deal unless I could sign up for the usual 12. A short pause followed, then he told me he had swung it for 12 months, with half price service for all of them, plus line rental.

Ok do it, I said, and signed up thinking I was very clever.

When I tried to send the video via We Transfer it all began well, then the system told me I only had another 3 hours to wait before the little film was safely transferred.

I went onto the specifications for the new broadband deal, and saw that the download speed was a reasonably healthy 17 MBs per second. The upload speed, however, was 1 MB per second or less, depending on how lazy it is feeling.

It's a good job I don't want to show everyone my holiday snaps on Facebook...

15 comments:

  1. Time for a pint or two, whilst you're waiting. Can't be bad!

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  2. I am a total idiot about all technology. Can barely upload a picture to blogger. Wouldn't even know how to watch tv on the net. I am, though, going to watch your video as long as it plays when I click on the link. I recently got a message from server saying I had used up 90% of my time and it was going to slow down unless I pay for more time.

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    1. Tom, I don't know what mapping and 3D content are, but I am impressed if you made that film. Loved it. Was it shown on the building or on a screen?

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    2. The building, and I didn't make it, I contributed (a great bloody deal) to the content.

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  3. It's even better now Tom and I spotted you and H.I a couple of times …. good job !! XXXX

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    1. Yes, we are right in the beginning. The only time I am seen is putting a gin and tonic to my lips... as usual...

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  4. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED that. Brilliant!

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    1. Why thank you, you little Canadian you! The music was re-designed by a Canadian, you know.

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  5. That was great Tom - very complicated - no wonder you were tearing your hair out.

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    1. Thanks Elaine. One of the reasons I am showing you the revised version is that we get as many hits as possible. I want to make a new one, so I want to get the hits for the funding! Please get as many of your mates to view it, and we might reach the right level.

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  6. Tom - most of this is gobble-de-gook to me! I use my Broadband for my e mails, my blog, cattle transfers, Vat returns, printing out various notices, quiz sheets (I do a quiz for our local nature reserve) and storing photographs. Anything else is a foreign language. Oh and we rarely, if ever, watch TV although did watch that amazing Jamaican beat Nadal.

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  7. There is always a catch with over the phone deals and the customer is left with the short end of the stick. It happens all the time and annoys me to no end.

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    Replies
    1. They all a bunch of complete bastards, like everyone else.

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