Drama-Fest Voting Instructions

Barry_S is testing the content delivery system I built, once he's satisfied it works correctly he'll be opening the doors. I'm guessing it will be extremely late tonight or, more possibly, tomorrow.

For anyone that cares (tech geeks like me like this stuff :huh: )... I built a system that presents the films as a series of links. When you click the link (left - click, not right-click) it selects one of the mirrors (based on a closely guarded, secret algorithm). It then forces the browser to download the file, from that mirror.

The cool thing is, when you click the link, after a few seconds the browsers "save as" dialog appears for that film. What's even cooler is each time you click any link on the "portal" you are getting served the selected film from a different mirror.

What this means is the bandwidth is more evenly shared among mirror owners. In the past, we published a list of mirror links. From there people would select one of the mirrors, then download all the films from that mirror. And, most people select the first one or two (usually the first) link in the list. THis means the first mirror gets slammed until it dies, then it is retired and the next gets attacked.

This new system helps share the load across all the mirrors, making better use of bandwidth. It should also perform better as the requests are spread out across the mirrors also (rather than 100 people downloading the same file from the same server at the same time, when the downloading begins).

In addition, when the announcement is made that you can begin viewing, I will follow it up with instructions on how to correctly link to your film from within your thread. Using a special URL you can serve up your film and have those clicks also go through the load balancing/auto downloading system.

And, since this is a new system, if anyone has any trouble getting it to work correctly we'll give that person a hard link to a mirror so they can download the old fashioned way.

My hope is that everyone has had a better experience in getting your film delivered to the contest, and that soon you will have had a better experience in getting the films for viewing/voting.

Peace,
Larry
 
That's great, Larry. Thanks for all of your hard work. Easy for users to download the flicks, but lots of stuff going on behind the curtain, keeping things running smoothly, and bandwidth evenly allocated. Perfecto. Here's to the new system working splendidly :beer: Go have a few. You deserve it.

Later,
jason
 
Larry R said:
My hope is that everyone has had a better experience in getting your film delivered to the contest, and that soon you will have had a better experience in getting the films for viewing/voting.
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I could not believe how easy the upload was, Larry. You've done a fine job. You should be singing...(yes, I watched your video).
 
We have a few bugs to squash tonight, so check back tomorrow morning boys and girls. We don't want the Titanic to sail with a loose hatch--ok bad analogy there.
 
Larry R said:
When you click the link (left - click, not right-click) it selects one of the mirrors (based on a closely guarded, secret algorithm).
Click to expand...

That wouldn't be the "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" algorithm, would it? I implement that one quite a bit in my software development. That and the "Bigger Hammer" pattern represent about 70% of all of my design, actually...
 
Larry R said:
... And, most people select the first one or two (usually the first) link in the list. THis means the first mirror gets slammed until it dies, then it is retired and the next gets attacked.
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damn.. I wish we had this in the last festival. www.edgenmusic.com is still dead because it got SlizzzAaaammmmedd!

anxious to start watching these films and waste another 2-3 days of my life... I mean.. Enlightenment... :huh:


Larry, sounds like you've done a tremendous job on this system and anxious to see how it works with this round.

/j
 
Sorry, Justin, I probably contributed to your dead server ... it was BLAZING fast, so I made sure I pulled all the films from yours. :)
 
Norm.. Yup. I think everyone thought the same thing. .. "OOOOooh, hit Justin's server. He's first on the list and better yet, let's stream from it directly!"

..

.. Oh SNAP!
.Spike!
Shut it down!

..

If anyone out there has a hosting company and is willing to re-direct my DNS numbers I'd be eternally grateful :)

/j
 
I don't know what that stuff means, but I've got my hosting through Bluehost.com, and don't use but a fraction of what I have available. Once this fest is done, I'd be happy to let you use some space, if needed, Justin.
 
I just need to step in here to publicly acknowledge how much work Larry has been putting into this distribution system.

I've been working with him on the sidelines helping to prep mirrors and do a bit of the design work. He's been working on the distribution system, that you will all witness soon, non-stop for the past 4 days. And the results are great!

Gone are the days of wading through threads to find a mirror that is still up at a crawl being hit by tens of other users trying to download the same files before the bandwidth quota is reached. This new system Larry has put together is super slick; it's already hugely eased the work of the mirror providers (as the files are now distributed directly from server-to server, with no intermediate downloads!), what took each mirror provider hours of time and gigs of bandwidth now happens in minutes with one click from Larry. And the download system will be just as quick and easy for everyone to quickly get the films for viewing.

When the system goes live tomorrow you will all see how much Larry has done. He deserves a tip of every-one's hat.

In addition to Larry...
I'd like to personally thank all the mirror providers for donating their precious server space and bandwidth on which to run the fest distribution system.

This is going to be the best fest ever!

- Mikko
 
*tips my hat*

Larry... Are you up for hire? Or a resume' anywhere? Lets make you a mega rock star! :)

/j
 
Envision said:
I don't know what that stuff means, but I've got my hosting through Bluehost.com, and don't use but a fraction of what I have available. Once this fest is done, I'd be happy to let you use some space, if needed, Justin.
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Bluehost ROCKS!

And yes, I tip my hat to Larry as well, bravo man! :dankk2: :beer:
 
mikkowilson said:
In addition to Larry...
I'd like to personally thank all the mirror providers for donating their precious server space and bandwidth on which to run the fest distribution system.

This is going to be the best fest ever!

- Mikko
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it's the least i could do. i'm proud to be a part of this community and particularly excited to see a slate of DVXFest films stripped of genre conventions (sci-fi, horror, etc). maybe one day i'll have the time to enter a short of my own. (early plug for "DocFest"!!)

:beer: :beer: :beer: here's to larry!!!
 
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I just want to echo Mikko's statements about Larry.

Larry has embodied the spirit of what DVXUser and this fest is supposed to be about. Lending a helping hand where it is needed, going above anyone's expectations, when he didn't need to do anything but sit back and enjoy the fest. And, expecting nothing in return for his services. Just being glad to give back. That is what is great about this community and these fests, when things go like they should. Such a wonderful community, with a lot more give, than take.

Thanks, Larry!

Here's to a great fest, everyone:beer:

Enjoy the films.

Jason
 
Mark Harris said:
That wouldn't be the "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" algorithm, would it? ...
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LOL.

Thanks for all the work guys. Can't wait to give the new set up a spin!

:beer::dankk2:
 
wow one vote = one film... best film.

if only the Oscars were like that !! then we would have one presentation and 3 hours of singing and dancing!! hmmm.
 
Don't make me CHOOSE!!!!
i've watched about 15 to 20 films and i already have three that i would award top prize to. this single vote is not easy to place.
 
or maybe one presentation and the rest of the time for something interesting
 
leofernandez said:
can we start voting?
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Wow, I've only had the chance to really watch 13 so far. I may watch another 2 tonight, but I don't want to burn out. I've got a couple that are in the running so far. I think that based on what I've seen so far this fest has the best overall quality of any of the fests. That bodes well for the future.
 
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