How Can I Share A Large File With Family

[opalhort]

I have a large (350MB) video (.dat) file I need to share with my family in Germany.

This is a one time matter so naturally I'm looking for a free service.

any ideas?

opalhort

[phazey]

the first recommendation i can come up with is convert the format to a more compressible format, like divx or mp4.

If you can get it down to a more reasonable size, maybe www.rapidshare.de might help...(100MB filesizes, but you can zip or rar it into a multi part archive i guess.

[opalhort]

the first recommendation i can come up with is convert the format to a more compressible format, like divx or mp4.

If you can get it down to a more reasonable size, maybe www.rapidshare.de might help...(100MB filesizes, but you can zip or rar it into a multi part archive i guess.

Thanks 'phazey'.

rapidshare.de is OK, but the problem is that the people at the receiving end are not very computer-literate.

for them it is only 'click and play' or 'right click and open with..'; a zip file is also OK but video files in the .dat format don't zip up well.

opalhort

[Rice_King]

from my favorite technical writer at the Bangkok Post.... WANDA SLOAN

BeamFile is a one-time 2.8MB download that sets up a peer-to-peer file transfer system - that is, the file actually stays on your disk, and your friend or family get a link to download it directly from you. Beamfile is 100% FREE. You can send up to 5 GB.

BeamFile has a very small learning curve. Basically, you drag the files or folders you want to send onto the program. It guides you through the process of making a web link to the file, and then sending that link to your friends or associates. You can bypass this and send the link details yourself if you wish.

The person at the other end starts up her browser, enters the link and soon is downloading the fruits of your labour.

This is not foolproof, obviously - nothing on the Internet is. But it would take a lot of time, effort and superior hacking ability for an unwanted person to grab your files while they were under BeamFile control. On the other hand, you still are sending files along the Internet, which is decidedly insecure.

[phazey]

the first recommendation i can come up with is convert the format to a more compressible format, like divx or mp4.

If you can get it down to a more reasonable size, maybe www.rapidshare.de might help...(100MB filesizes, but you can zip or rar it into a multi part archive i guess.

Thanks 'phazey'.

rapidshare.de is OK, but the problem is that the people at the receiving end are not very computer-literate.

for them it is only 'click and play' or 'right click and open with..'; a zip file is also OK but video files in the .dat format don't zip up well.

opalhort

Correct me if i'm wrong - you say your video format is .dat - which would lead me to believe it's been created with some VCD software (AVSEQ00.DAT ??) - this is mpeg1 - low res and loves compression.....unless the format is digital DAT - this changes things slightly. tried youtube or video.google ?

but as i said, if you make a 3 part .rar archive - it's still two clicks away from becoming the full video file...

i'll have a further think about this.

[opalhort]

the first recommendation i can come up with is convert the format to a more compressible format, like divx or mp4.

If you can get it down to a more reasonable size, maybe www.rapidshare.de might help...(100MB filesizes, but you can zip or rar it into a multi part archive i guess.

Thanks 'phazey'.

rapidshare.de is OK, but the problem is that the people at the receiving end are not very computer-literate.

for them it is only 'click and play' or 'right click and open with..'; a zip file is also OK but video files in the .dat format don't zip up well.

opalhort

Correct me if i'm wrong - you say your video format is .dat - which would lead me to believe it's been created with some VCD software (AVSEQ00.DAT ??) - this is mpeg1 - low res and loves compression.....unless the format is digital DAT - this changes things slightly. tried youtube or video.google ?

but as i said, if you make a 3 part .rar archive - it's still two clicks away from becoming the full video file...

i'll have a further think about this.

OK here is some more background info:

my family (Thai wife and parents) went to China and took over 300 digi photos. my father in law was so 'clever' and took the digi cam to a shop which created a slide show on a VCD (yes- AVSEQ01.dat), printed all the photos and cleaned out the memory stick!

now my sisters in Germany would like very much to see the photos but I am too lazy to scan them all in and send them individually. The slide show is great but over 350MB. my sisters are very much computer illiterate. sending them a link which they can click, even if it is to a zip file, is about the most they can manage.

BeamFile is very good but I'm sure it is too much for them to handle because they don't understand English.

thanks for all your info so far

opalhort

[cdnvic]

I think the easiest is just to burn a few copies to CD and mail it to them. Otherwise there are dozens of video splitting programs out there that vary in cost. Personally the CD option is what I'd do. Simple, and easy for both sides.

[phazey]

rename the file to "ourpics.mpg", burn it to CD and post it.

pop in pc, double click - result.

best way i can think of right now. copy the .dat file and rename & try.

edit: what cdnvic said.

[opalhort]

Thanks for all your replies.

I have not even thought about sending a CD by snail-mail, but it looks like this is the easiest option.

Will do it this way.

When will we be able to e-mail large files?

opalhort

[cdnvic]

Even if you had an 350mb email box at the other end, some relay along the way would reject the file and I don't see that ending any time soon. If it got through and the person was on dialup, they would probably shoot you.

It is possible to stream the file but it would be far more work than it's worth.

[mouse]

Try this location. They seem to offer a FREE service that you are looking for.

Found it on Google. Knew of another, but, cannot find it again.

[JackFrost]

try www.pando.com - works a treat and is free - up to 1 gig transfers

Jack

[ourmanflint]

You can send it any number of ways, but at some point you will have to upload the whole thing to a server somewhere, If that is feasable, then Pando, Gdisk ( for Gmail ) or services such as yousendit.com or streamload will do the trick.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-file-hosting.php

[guardian]

Since many have suggested renaming the .dat file to .mpg, have you tried renaming accordingly and upload to the video upload sites like YouTube or Google Video and simply sending them the link which they have to just click and view online. Simple as that

[cdnvic]

Since many have suggested renaming the .dat file to .mpg, have you tried renaming accordingly and upload to the video upload sites like YouTube or Google Video and simply sending them the link which they have to just click and view online. Simple as that

Too big. Unless you have a paid account.

[guardian]

Too big. Unless you have a paid account.

I don't know about YouTube, but on Google Video, I have uploaded 4 family videos of 600+ MBs each, FREE!!! So I don't think that's a problem.

[redrus]

try www.pando.com - works a treat and is free - up to 1 gig transfers

Jack

Used Pando this morning to transfer a load of music to a right Klown, it worked sound from my end but, the Klown hasn't got back to me yet....

It was dead dead easy to use too.........!

redrus

[opalhort]

Thanks for all your replies.

I did install pando and the program looks good but it won't upload at a reasonable speed. Appears to be using P2P on which TRUE ADSL is putting on the throttle.

What are the max file sizes on you tube and Google video?

Thanks for all your help

opalhort

[guardian]

What are the max file sizes on you tube and Google video?

I don't know the max size on Google, but I did once upload a 1+ GB (almost 2GB) video file successfully there. Also, for Google video, you don't have to setup any program, just download a 381KB stand-alone program to upload files larger than 100 MB

[kayo]

try www.pando.com - works a treat and is free - up to 1 gig transfers

Jack

Used Pando this morning to transfer a load of music to a right Klown, it worked sound from my end but, the Klown hasn't got back to me yet....

It was dead dead easy to use too.........!

redrus

installing now!

[kayo]

Ok, installed it and using it now.

It's fine.

to opalhart, maybe it is worth pando-ising it offline. Prepare it to send or, when receiving, save it to your hard ddrive and open the "package" later.

I mean to say, that this will not affect your online time, if that's a concern.

EdIT: Cancel above. I was guessing. I don't know enough about it yet.

[cdnvic]

If quality is an issue the online video sites are going to make your pics into butt ugly flash video so don't use it unless you want high definition pics turning into pixelation theatre.

[friend2]

If it were me, and I had to send it to someone on-line.

The first thing i'd do is extract the images from the dat file as jpeg's.

(I assume that's the format their in on the video).

Then i'd simply create let's say 35 X 10 mb rar archives, and add the images, and mail it via yahoo or whatever.

Then the receiving end doesn't have to be a genius either to view them.

PS. After extraction and compression, maybe you'll end up with a total smaller file than you began with, hence using 35 archives wont be neccessary.

(Don't forget to choose "Maximum compression" if you do it in Winrar)

[Firefoxx]

The guy who converted your high-res pics into a lousy VCD file is probably the one to blame here. Very very stupid thing to do. It will look acceptable (barely) on TV, but trying to make any more prints from them will give nasty results. Most digicams, even 2 megapixel ones, have at least 1600x1200 resolution, while a VCD has 352x280 resolution. Do the math. You get nice-looking transitions at the cost of not being able to make any more prints or looking at the fine details.

Youtube and Google video are alternatives, but they downsample the video (read: make it look worse)... making lousy looking video even lousier. Not good.

A VCD uses MPEG1 compression, which was good in its day, but now there are more efficient methods. If your relatives have a PC, convert the file into a WMV, if a Mac, then Quicktime, both of the same framerate and resolution (and fairly easy to open). The file will be about 1/3 the size, depending on your compression options. You can then send it to them using something like www.filehd.com (which is a LOT easier and MUCH more pleasant to use than rapidshare).

You could also make screenshots of the video... each screenshot will be around 5-10k, and will have the same resolution as the video (which I say again has LOUSY resolution). The total filesize wll be less than 1 megabyte.

[friend2]

Ahh, sorry, my idea of converting it back to jpeg's (.jpg) wont work offcourse since it's a dat/vcd file.(will work but crap result)

What a shame the guy couldn't simply copy the files from the beginning in their original format to disk.

Most modern dvd/vcd players read jpeg's just fine.

My DVD player can read jpeg's up to an 3072 x 2048 resolution...

[opalhort]

Thanks a lot for the advise all you guys have given me

The person who made the VCD should not really be blamed since it was my 68yo father in law who asked for a CD to view on TV, get all photos printed and have the memory stick cleared. He got exactly what he asked for.

By now I also got a lot (about 900) of digi photos from other people in the group.

I've zipped them up but still face the problem of sending the files to my folks in Germany. (I'm in no mood to reduce each and every photo to an 'e-mail size').

I am currently going through all the suggestions (about sending large files) made in this topic by sending the files to an e-mail addy I own to see how it looks at the receiving end.

The problem is that the services which require the recipient to install viewing software are all in English. My folk's knowledge of English doesn't go beyond 'yes, no, thank you etc.'

Does anybody know of a service which has a German interface?

Thanks again for all your help.

opalhort

[friend2]

What format exactly are these additional photos in ?

Most standard picture formats can be read in Windows without the need to install any special "viewing software".

Again, if it were me, i'd use an image batch converter (many files at once), to reduce the size to something more suitable for sending across the internet.

If it's only for casual viewing I mean.

The original files I would offcourse keep and bring with me whenever I go back home.

[opalhort]

What format exactly are these additional photos in ?

Most standard picture formats can be read in Windows without the need to install any special "viewing software".

Again, if it were me, i'd use an image batch converter (many files at once), to reduce the size to something more suitable for sending across the internet.

If it's only for casual viewing I mean.

The original files I would offcourse keep and bring with me whenever I go back home.

the additional photos are in .jpg format and some short .mpeg videos so viewing them is no problem.

my question about software in German was related to 'large size file transfer' where the recipient has to install some software in order to download the large files.

What would be a good "FREE" image batch converter? I have an old version of Photoshop and the latest version of 'ACDSee' but none seem to have batch processing capabilities.

opalhort

[crockett]

What would be a good "FREE" image batch converter? I have an old version of Photoshop and the latest version of 'ACDSee' but none seem to have batch processing capabilities.

opalhort

This one is good and free http://www.faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm

There is also a great image viewer from them for free.