Unfortunately, compressing VCD video will not save you much in
overhead relative to your 150mb file size, and the medium through
which you are considering sending the file (e-mail). Most e-mail
providers do not allow individual messages of over 2mb (hotmail) to
about 10mb (many local ISPs). On top of this, a total mailbox quota of
~50-~100 mbs is normal as well. Make sure that your recipient is able
to receive this much information no matter how split it is before you
send off the e-mails, or you'll just waste your time uploading.
As an example I took a 34mb VCD capable MPG (same as the .dat file in
the video subdirectory of the VCD) to get an estimate of how a
compression tool would benefit. What I found is that compressing the
mpg file with WinRAR (free for evaluation use, and capable of making
self-extracting multipart archives) only yields a ~10% (4mb) decrease
in filesize, which can be applied to a ~15mb decrease in filesize for
your VCD. This may seem like a bit better, until you realize that it
still doesn't help you overcome the transfer hurdles I mentioned
before. WinRAR (www.rarsoft.com) has a simple multispan option on the
add to archive dialog box called "Split to volumes, bytes" which
allows you to type in a number such as 2000000 (2mb) so that you can
make roughly 75 parts able to be filtered through to your friend, or
roughly 15 parts if his ISP is more lenient with large e-mail
attachments. They have great documentation by pressing F1 (or going to
the help menu) which walks you through multispanning.
My next and best suggestion would be to forego the e-mail AND
compression/spanning procedure and instead organize a set time for you
and the recipient. Most if not all instant messanger programs offer
direct file transfer options built in (such as AIM, MSN Messenger,
Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, etc.), and this 1-to-1 transfer ensures that no
parts of a multispan get lost in the transfer and that the most
efficient use of bandwidth is achieved (you send as fast as they can
receive, and neither your mail server nor theirs will retain a copy
even temporarily, possibly violating any disk quotas either of you
might have. It's relatively fast, it will take you approximately 25
minutes transferring at 100kb/sec (speeds not uncommon for
Cable/DSL/T1 line speeds) and if worse comes to worst, it will take
about 6 and a half hours if he (or you, or both) are on 56k modem. All
of these instant messenger programs support resumable transfers, so
it's not lost time if something goes awry with the transfer halfway
through. That's just another option to think about.
Let me know what your options are after speaking to the other party,
and I'll work with you further on selecting the best method. Thank you
for your question, and I'm happy to answer it.
skermit-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
30 May 2003 07:29 PDT
Many thanks. You wrote: "All of these instant messenger programs
support resumable transfers, so it's not lost time if something goes
awry with the transfer halfway through. That's just another option to
think about."
(1) Please explain how to resume the transfer if something goes awry?
(2) What happens if a receiver cancels the transfer halfway? Can it be
resumed? This really happened once when during a large file transfer,
the recipeint walked away and soembody else came on his computer and
closed the screen!
Regards
|
Clarification of Answer by
skermit-ga
on
30 May 2003 12:17 PDT
In AIM and ICQ at least (I don't have MSN or Yahoo Messenger) if you
mess up a transfer, (say if one party accidentally turns off their
computer or internet glitches drop the connection unexpectedly, all
that needs to be done is just to send the file again, and the
recipient will be asked if they would like to resume the transfer, or
start over. As for one party specifically cancelling the transfer, you
can cancel it and have it resumable, but if the recipient cancels it,
the temporary file of what's been downloaded already get deleted
(again, this is just the norm in ICQ and AIM).
skermit-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
30 May 2003 18:06 PDT
Thanks S Kermit. My original question was for splitting and
compressing software of files. But I accept that by CONFIRMING that
splitting and spanned archiving are not possible/ practical for a very
large file, you have part answered the question though perhaps it
should have been posted as comment.
The limitations of emails, the near futility of compression of video
files such as .DAT and the ability of Messenger to transfer file and
photo - I knew all that. I live in a different time zone - Singapore
than the recipeint - US. Singapore and US are 12-15 hours apart. So
fixing a time is not practical for file transfer. But if I sit up
during nights to transfer the file, I should know the pitfalls.
You also wrote: "... "All" of these instant messenger programs support
..."
In Asia (or at least in Singapore) AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is
rare. I don't know if non-AOL subscribers such as me can use it.
Can I request a clarification? Kindly research and advise whether file
transfer can be resumed in MSN Messeneger and Yahoo Messenger if it is
interrupted by a) sender b) recipient.
Can non-AOL subscribers such as me use AIM?
Regards
|
Clarification of Answer by
skermit-ga
on
30 May 2003 18:34 PDT
I do not subscribe to AOL's service yet use their AIM client. It is a
free client which you can download for yourself at
http://www.aim.com/. I'm sure you'll be able to use it yourself even
though you are not in the US, I have a couple friends overseas myself
who use it regularly with no problems, and we've traded pictures and
songs before. As for the other two clients you asked about, neither
will resume if the recipient manually cancels the transfer (because
then the recipient is instructed to delete the partial file). I'm
pretty sure both will resume if the sender cancels, or if it gets
dropped unexpectedly, but I will try later on this weekend with my
friend overseas to test it out.
skermit-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
30 May 2003 19:43 PDT
Many thanks for the quick turn around.
You wrote: "… neither MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger) will resume
if the recipient manually cancels the transfer (because then the
recipient is instructed to delete the partial file)."
(1) Please clarify: what if the recipient manually cancels the
transfer and does not obey the 'instruction' to delete the partial
file.
(2) I will wait for your confirmation if MSN Messenger and Yahoo
Messenger will resume, if sender cancels.
(3) I note that I can use AIM. I may check it out. But if all 3
clients (AOL, Yahoo, MSN messengers) are same/ identical with regard
to resumption of an interrupted transfer, I perhaps need not bother
about AIM (unless the recipient insists on using that).
Best regards
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 05:40 PDT
Could you clarify the points please as listed in my previous communication?
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
03 Jun 2003 05:43 PDT
Do you intend to get back to me please?
|
Clarification of Answer by
skermit-ga
on
04 Jun 2003 05:05 PDT
I'm sorry, due to an emergency, I was away for the entire weekend and
until now. I'm slowly working through all of the backlog of questions
and clarification requests today. I'll get to yours today. Sorry!
skermit-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
04 Jun 2003 17:55 PDT
No problem but I do hope you will get back to me today as you said.
Best regards
|
Clarification of Answer by
skermit-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 08:54 PDT
Scheduling a time seems harder than I expected with my other friend.
I'm going ot ask if other researchers have used either Yahoo or MSN,
because although I have both installed now, I have nobody to test the
files with. With AIM at least, if the recipient cancels the file
transfer, a partial is saved in the transfer directory, and it doesn't
ask to delete the partial. I'll keep trying to find another test
partner for MSN and Yahoo.
skermit-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 19:00 PDT
It's been a week since your first answer. Please find time to wrap up
this answer. Kindly keep your appointments.
Kindly don't answer with "I think ..." or "I am pretty sure ...".
Kindly check the facts before writing.
Can you please clarify in ONE answer the following?
"Whether file transfer can be resumed in a)MSN Messeneger, b)Yahoo
Messenger, and c)AOL Messeneger if the transfer is interrupted by
a)sender b)recipient?"
Regards
|
Clarification of Answer by
skermit-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 23:24 PDT
I already stated a couple times that yes, it can be resumed in "c)AOL
Messeneger if the transfer is interrupted by a)sender b)recipient?"
Both are resumable.
skermit-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
aaz-ga
on
07 Jun 2003 01:50 PDT
(1)
Yes, you did say for for AIM in the PREVIOUS email. I have been
insisting for info about MSN and Yahoo Messengers.
Btw, you also wrote previously:
"All" of these instant messenger programs support resumable transfers,
so it's not lost time if something goes awry with the transfer halfway
through.
You wrote about "All" instant messengers, then you write:
"... I don't have MSN or Yahoo Messenger ..."
Then you write about AIM:
"... if the recipient cancels it, the temporary file of what's been
downloaded already get deleted (again, this is just the norm in ICQ
and AIM)..."
You should give me a quality answer, devoid of contradictions, not
rush with a reply.
You don't get back in time. You had a reason once. What about the
second time?
You wrote in the first answer:
"Let me know what your options are after speaking to the other party,
and I'll work with you further on selecting the best method."
Other researchers post such answers as comments when they are
enquiring about the options.
Can I have just one reply - exact answers to my questions in the next
3 days?
"Whether file transfer can be resumed in a)MSN Messeneger, b)Yahoo
Messenger if the transfer is interrupted by a)sender b)recipient?"
If relevant please clarify:
"what if the recipient manually cancels the transfer and does not obey
the 'instruction' to delete the partial file."
I want answers on Google Answers, not correspondence.
Regards
|
