Automatic eDelivery of dailies to IOS devices over the cloud.

[Frank Cueto]

Guys, i've been interested in doing cloud delivery of dailies to director's /producre's IOS device over the cloud.

I am trying to upload a h.264 encoded quicktime to a "cloud" of sorts. from there I would like my director's IOS device to automagically download that quicktime while he is asleep. So when he wakes up next day, its already there.

I kinda got there with Dropbox, but it requires for him to click on the file. Only then does the download start (Unfortunate since he then needs to wait). Also, it won't keep the download unless he marks the file with a star (favorite). So, that seems to be a no-go.

Other attempts where to make a password protected private podcast, and although that will work with iTunes on a OSX device, alas, no luck on IOS. It would be great if we get the newsstand functionality, but for the quicktime files I am generating. Instead, he needs to sync to get those podcasts unto his device.

Also tried takeoff video, and its fairly neat, but it misses the aspect of pre downloading all the video files to the IOS Device.


This is a fairly trivial task, we have been prepping iPad dailies for a while, but on this next project I would really like to avoid the need to plug-in the iPad to drop the dailies.


Any bright people out there who have solved this care to share?

thanks

[M Most]

Unless the client is constantly in an area without Internet connectivity, I would think a streaming host might be a better bet. I can tell you that at least one company we both know well experimented with a push approach, but ultimately abandoned it in favor of streaming because the downloads took a long time and clients did not want to wait. They were happier with the periodic interruptions that streaming usually causes, because they rarely needed to watch everything all the way through anyway, and streaming provided an "instant start" for anything they did need to see. Clients in general do not really want to manage their iPads either - they expect it to just hold unlimited amounts of footage - so if they're downloading everything, those iPads are going to get filled up rather quickly. And then they'll probably blame you when they can't download any new material.

[Doug Beatty]

google: pogoplug

[Frank Cueto]

Mike, you are absolutely right... I am trying to make this as transparent and automatic to them as possible:

1) Streaming. I have identified a couple good streaming services that work for our application. But this entails that I would have to make sure they always have some kind of WiFi access on-set. I am going over this option with the DIT, see if he can get one of those wireless access pendrives thingies, he would then make sure to broadcast wifi access to everyone on set so they can access the streaming content.

2) Rotating set of iPads, i would have two iPads for the director (and anyone else who is in on it). Basically s a PA would be replacing the directors iPad every morning with the new one, which happens to have the new dailies loaded already. this could be an issue if the director is into writing notes and what not.

3) sending DVD's with the files ready for dropping into iTunes for syncing (i am a bit hesitant of giving the director/producer any solution for this that requires ANY steps on their part)

4) having the DIt receive my dailies, and have the iPads on set do a wireless sync to the DIT's station (meh...)

So there are some ways around this, I am trying to find the one that will generate the LEAST amount of phone calls regarding something not working. I am not really concerned about the download time, i think that at MOST, I would be sending about 600 megs, and that should sync under an hour via wifi while they sleep, granted that the dailies are finished before he wakes up!


Doug, looking in to it, thanks!

I'll post here what my final solution ends up being...

[Tanner Field]

A potential solution might be to use "Goodreader." It would allow you to set up a folder inside of good reader that can sync with a selected dropbox folder. It would still require the director to go into good reader and select the sync button. But after that it would all happen for him in the background. On your end you'd only need to upload the new files to dropbox when they were ready and then the director could sync whenever he was ready (i.e. right before going to sleep) it would also allow streaming if he didn't sync and just wanted to look at a single shot. I think this may be the best solution you can have, as from what I understand of iOS there are restrictions to having apps that can start a process (like downloading) in the background without the owner opening the application. Hope this helps somewhat. Best of luck.

[Frank Cueto]

Yes Tanner, I am as of right now testing that approach. I would really like to get the .m4v file into the "videos" app in the iPad, since our files have chapter marks and some other metadata that is navigable on the videos app.

The other drawback is that it would require the user to initiate the download. Potentially wasting the 3-4 hours that would have been a great window to download while the end client is sleeping.

hmmmm.... maybe another solution would be to control the iPad remotely (ala VNC) and someone from my crew could initiate the download? Only drawback to this its that it adds yet another layer and I would like to keep it as simple as possible. The last thing I want is the top billed crew getting to think of me ONLY when their shit fails to work...


In the end what I would love to have happen is the director wakes up and VOILA, there is all of his dailies. If I can't sort it out this way today, I am turning my efforts to a streaming solution tomorrow.

[M Most]

This might be a bit out of the box, but one possibility might be to avoid direct downloads to the iPad altogether, and instead, equip the director with both an iPad and, say, a Mac Mini. You could hook up the Mini to a wired or wireless connection in his/her house or hotel room, and upload your dailies to a site you control as a podcast. If you can figure out a way to subscribe to that podcast, it would, in theory, automatically download via iTunes to the Mini overnight. All the director has to do is connect the iPad to the Mini in the morning and the already downloaded file would be pushed to the Videos app directly. This might work around Apple's limitations, albeit at the cost of any really serious security. But it would accomplish what you're trying to do.

I haven't really done this, it's just a thought.

[Mike Lary]

This might be a bit out of the box, but one possibility might be to avoid direct downloads to the iPad altogether, and instead, equip the director with both an iPad and, say, a Mac Mini. You could hook up the Mini to a wired or wireless connection in his/her house or hotel room, and upload your dailies to a site you control as a podcast. If you can figure out a way to subscribe to that podcast, it would, in theory, automatically download via iTunes to the Mini overnight. All the director has to do is connect the iPad to the Mini in the morning and the already downloaded file would be pushed to the Videos app directly. This might work around Apple's limitations, albeit at the cost of any really serious security. But it would accomplish what you're trying to do.

I haven't really done this, it's just a thought.

Michael Cioni talked about delivering podcast dailies on a major production during his 'Prepping for a 4K World' lecture, so I'm sure there's a secure way to do it.