film2hd

myFilms

Overview: Here are some notes about the myFilms system.

Zergling (Linus box under the stairs) handles the processing for creating the thumbnails.  The thumbnails eventually reside in a folder on the internet where Film2HD.com resides.  The process grabs an image from the digitized films every 10 feet of film.  These images are stored on Film2HD.com.  The second half of the process also creates thumbnails of the images.  When the process fails to complete it seems to quit after creating all the images but before creating thumbs of the images.  Images are named nnnnn.jpg, and thumbs are thumb_nnnnn.jpg (ex. 00027.jpg and thumb_00027.jpg

Use putty to access zergling ....can also just use the network to access the PC

Use smartFTP to access film2hd.com.   s89628.gridserver.com/domains/film2hd.com/html/myfilm

"includes" directory contains most of the php code for the website.

"thumbs" directory contains folders for each customer and in turn they contain folders for each film and those contain the images and the thumbs.

myFilm fails to complete generating thumbs

First you need to get the images for creating the thumbs.

Use create thumbs under myfilms and connect to server

  1. You can generate the images.....
    1. open the video file in Vegas Pro
    2. open UltimateS
    3. select the "Editing Tools" tab
    4. and go to the "Image Sequence" box and grab images "At Increments" of  27 seconds (00:00:27.00)
    5. use Renamer or ACDSee to batch rename the images to nnnn.jpg
  2. ..or get the ones already generated from Zergling:
    1. Log onto Zergling.....
      • go to network
      • find Zergling ...may have to use ID (paulish) and password
      • find thumbs in www\film_thumbs\temp_buffer\{name of customer}
    2. copy the folder containing the images to Apollo

You need to create the thumbs manually by....

Within Myfilms there is a "connect to server" and then there is  "Create Thumbnails" Hyperlink

This will allow you to create thumbnails from the given media folder you select.

The thumbnails will be created onto Zergling/filmthumbs/temp buffer and should be copied to a local drive.

  1. create thumbs in the same film folders containing the images....
  2. Using ACDSee to batch resize the images and copy them into the source folder.  Thumb size should be 144 X 81.
    • open ACDSee and "manage" the customer folder (this will include the film sub folders)
    • go to the search panel on the right and find all the images
      • search for files *.*
      • in the folders window look under the little arrowhead icon for options and make sure the look only in cataloqued files is OFF
      • add the customer folder to the folder list
      • click start (at the bottom)
    • select all the images that appear in the main window
    • right click and go to batch resize
      • select size 144x81
      • make sure to select "reduce or enlarge"
      • maintain aspect ratio
      • under "options" make sure the changed files are saved in the source folder (the program will append "_resize" to each new thumb file
  3. Use Renamer (ACDSee is not quite sophisticated enough)  to change the new thumb names from nnnnn.jpg to thumb_nnnnn.jpg
    • add the customer folder
    • add the rules:
      • insert "thumb_" at position 1
      • replace all "_resize" with "" (skip extension)
    • then in the dispaly window right click on the title bar and add "size"
    • sort by size
    • select all the non resized (large images) and DE-select them
      • right click on the files and go to "mark" and "unmark"
    • click "Rename" button
  4. Once the film number folders are done you can copy the film folders back to Film2HD.com and drop them into the window displaying the customer's film folders.  This should automatically add the new thumb images into the film folders.
  5. Now log into film2hd's myfilms and go to manage films
    • fill in the thumb created date for each film
  6. Now go to add project and add the customer's project
  7. DONE

Template Emails for Film2HD.com

Response for people who email us with general inquiries:

Canned Response: Film Transfer - Main Response Hi Customer,

You have 2 options for a film transfer:

You can use our basic transfer which is $14.99 per 50 feet of 8mm film, or per 100 feet of 16mm film. We clean your film if required and transfer it as a digital video file to a hard drive. You will need to provide a portable hard drive to pick-up the final files, as they can be up to 2.2 GB per minute.

The other option is to use our deluxe transfer which is $21.99 per 50 feet of 8mm film, or per 100 feet of 16mm film. With deluxe, we color correct your film and give you access to our MyFilms web tool that lets you provide custom titles and arrange the films for your DVD or Blu-ray menus. Once you complete the MyFilms customization, we put your films on DVD or Blu-ray for you to enjoy right away, complete with menus and background music.

We're located in Port Coquiltam, so you can come in and talk to us in person. We can show you how the film is transferred, but it is a lengthy process. You can watch a brief tour of our process right on our homepage at www.film2hd.com, or read about it on our page titled 'Our Process'.

Our address is 3419 Handley Crescent, Port Coquitlam. Click on this link to find us on Google Maps.

Please feel free to email me any additional questions. You can also call our office at 778-216-0831. The person who handles most of our film transfer customers is John - he is probably the best person to ask any more technical questions.