EmuMovies Future (Need Input)

[Circo]

First of all I would just like to thank everyone for the tremendous support of my project and website EmuMovies.com over the past four years. Back in early 2005 I started out with a single page text only little website with one really crappy NES video set to use in mamewah. Since then and completely by accident the site has grown to 100's of pages and over 32 video sets in up to 4 formats each (HiQ, SQ or 640x480 and 320x240) and (AVI and FLV, to support different front-ends). Well I have reached about the maximum size possible to keep going on even the best and most expensive shared or VPS plans. Last month EmuMovies reached a record 3,200GB of bandwidth and that sent everything crashing down. And for the last two weeks I have been struggling to find a stable long term home. I thought I had it figured out but it seems that almost every hosting situation is not suited for what I am doing here. The FTP is currently up and stable but I will not be able to take any more users with my current hosting situation, even with the site now spread across two separate servers.

What I am looking for is some true honest feedback in order to make the best decision for myself, the website, and the community. First I want to go over what my agenda for the site is this year and the foreseeable future and then I would like to put a few questions out to gauge the viability of what I am getting ready to do. First this is what the upgrade is going to look like, I am pretty excited by this

New EmuMovies DEDICATED server:

Operation System: CentOS

Processor: Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHZ

Cache: 6 MB

cPanel w/ Fantastico

Managed

RAM: 6 GB

HDD: 250 GB

Traffic: 5,000 GB

Uplink/Speed: 100 mbps

I have already discussed the site, types of files, usage, everything with the provider and they assure me it will be a good fit. Also since I will now have a dedicated server I will FINALLY be able to make the FTP "Read Only" for general users, which will end the problem of files and even sets disappearing because of accidental deletion, which is happening more and more.

Agenda for 2009 (In order of priority):

#1 - Convert existing video sets to No-Intro naming convention (with corresponding DAT files)

#2 - Audit and replace any missing videos in existing sets

#3 - Convert existing video sets to FLV for use in HyperSpin/GameEx

2009-Ongoing - Add new sets and release HiQ (640x480) videos for existing sets.

Questions:

#1 - Do you feel that EmuMovies.com is a worthwhile service to the community?

#2 - Do you feel that this site/project can justify a $20-$25 per year subscription

fee for secure/fast direct downloads?

#3 - Would you recommend EmuMovies.com to a friend?

#4 - Should we close up FTP sign-ups and just stay where we are?

Please keep in mind that any existing "Lifetime" members will keep that access and never be charged a subscription fee. I know this sounds silly, but I am getting ready to dump a healthy portion of savings into this and I need to assure myself that I am making the right decision here. I wouldn't say my user base is huge but it's definitely not small and continues to grow. I have been a long time member to both the BYOAC, GameEx and HyperSpin forums. I am going to post this in all three forums so that I might best gauge interest in this drastic upgrade. Also keep in mind, in the unlikely event that I decide not to make this move, rest assured that the FTP will still continue to operate as it has, I just will not be accepting any additional sign ups for accounts.

I look forward to your honest feedback, I started this project as a way of giving back to the community and also because I just love to do it Thanks again for everyone's support!!

-Circo

[Visitor Q]

1. Yes

2. Maybe

3. Yes

4. I guess that depends on #2, anything is better than nothing.

ps. I sent you a PM (today) and an email about a week ago, I can no longer login to the ftp. Please let me know what information you need from me in order to get this corrected.

Thanks.

[chriss]

hey circo, you deserve more input than this, i just dont have much time right now.

Just a quick thought: I guess I can speak for everyone on this forum that your service is worthwile and an enormous addition for all the cabinet owners out there.

But I think a yearly subscription plan for 20$-25$ is maybe already a bit too much (at least for me as a poor student who is doing this as a hobby). I know many people will say they will totally pay that, so I'm just speaking out of my perspective:

I planned on joining emumovies now a couple of times, because of the gameex discount. This was the main reason for me. I still haven't joined emumovies because I'm happy with what I got on my cabinet I guess. I have the full mame set that you give away for free (thanks again) and I use snapshots for most of my emulators. I definately wanna have videos there but so far paying money for it is not really worth it for me. Sorry to put it that way!

I still plan on upgrading to videos for all my emulated systems at some time.

My suggestion would be to not extend the ftp service but rather use torrenting for all available videos. Most of the people will only need to download the sets once anyway (eg for the most emulated consoles snes, nes and genesis where no more games have to be added). This way you don't have to invest into new servers and you can keep the price down, which will have more people join your site and less people using the "unofficial" torrents.

[Circo]

1. Yes

2. Maybe

3. Yes

4. I guess that depends on #2, anything is better than nothing.

ps. I sent you a PM (today) and an email about a week ago, I can no longer login to the ftp. Please let me know what information you need from me in order to get this corrected.

Thanks.

Hmm, all emails have been responded to up to two days ago, check your spam folder, I am currently trying to get the host for my main site to respond so that I can get to the rest of my emails....grrr!

[headkaze]

I also sent you a PM (not an e-mail). Check the link at the top of the page, it should say "x New Messages". Click on that and you should be able to read them.

[Visitor Q]

Hmm, all emails have been responded to up to two days ago, check your spam folder, I am currently trying to get the host for my main site to respond so that I can get to the rest of my emails....grrr!

If you sent me an email and it went to my spam folder it has since been delete. Please check your PMs and I will be more than happy to provide you with any information you need. If you would like me to send you another email, I can do that too.

Just say the word and thanks. I hope it all works out for you in the end, I really enjoy your FTP and as others have said, I have recommend it to many already.

[Adultery]

#1 - Do you feel that EmuMovies.com is a worthwhile service to the community?

Absolutely! With this and the new games database, there really are great resources out there. And for support, I don't mind throwing down the cash for a worthwhile cause!

#2 - Do you feel that this site/project can justify a $20-$25 per year subscription

fee for secure/fast direct downloads?

Absolutely again... But would I use it enough to justify a yearly fee? You better bet I would!

#3 - Would you recommend EmuMovies.com to a friend?

Have, and will continue to do so. Was actually referred by Headkaze in the first place!

#4 - Should we close up FTP sign-ups and just stay where we are?

Progress is nothing to be scared of my friend. A good thing always gets better with time... Not to mention more members bring more content provided we can still contribute!

Just my 2 cents.

[Circo]

#1 - Do you feel that EmuMovies.com is a worthwhile service to the community?

Absolutely! With this and the new games database, there really are great resources out there. And for support, I don't mind throwing down the cash for a worthwhile cause!

#2 - Do you feel that this site/project can justify a $20-$25 per year subscription

fee for secure/fast direct downloads?

Absolutely again... But would I use it enough to justify a yearly fee? You better bet I would!

#3 - Would you recommend EmuMovies.com to a friend?

Have, and will continue to do so. Was actually referred by Headkaze in the first place!

#4 - Should we close up FTP sign-ups and just stay where we are?

Progress is nothing to be scared of my friend. A good thing always gets better with time... Not to mention more members bring more content provided we can still contribute!

Just my 2 cents.

Well here is where we are at:

Let me start out with I have decided to go with the dedicated server route. It is being set up as I type this

That being said it is going to solve a couple of issues that we have had over the past few years,

- Read Only FTP folders This is in no way going to stop user content but I will get into that in a second. Constantly I was having to replace Deleted content because the ftp was wide open. I doubt that it was ever on purpose but every user had full write control and we have a quite a few users. For those of you that have access to the FTP you have probably noticed a completely new directory structure, that is much easier to navigate. It includes Official directories and User Directories and a WIP directory. The WIP directory will remain unprotected so that users and myself can upload incomplete sets, updates whatever. Once approved they will be moved into a secure directory. Some user sets may become official if they are of high enough quality as we have done in the past.

- FTP Slow Downs (Unable to connect) Not saying this will go away completely but I have alot more bandwith with the dedicated server. Things should speed up and connections should be more consistant since I am not sharing with 300 other sites.

These are a couple of faily big issues that I am looking forward to saying goodbye to. It will also give me the ability to host more content as direct downloads (Completely FREE!) this will include more artwork and smaller SQ video sets (less than 500MB). Torrents are also not going away, they are not on the top of my priority list at the moment and there is already quite alot in the torrents to work with, I am waiting until I have some more done before I release another complete torrent. I especially want to get some more of the naming updated and dats made on the older sets. And since most of the videos in the torrent are still in DIVX format everything now is XVID or FLV and I want to have them all solid before I make everyone download completely new sets via torrent. However the decision has been made to only distribute SQ videos in torrents.

Well I look forward to this new leap, I can't believe that it's come to this, really! This project has been such a huge part of my life for the past four years and I am looking forward to a great 2009. Obviously if I have made this big of an investment you can trust that I am fired up and looking forward to getting this move done so I can focus on Content again.

[Circo]

Well its done and we are back up, I have 2 days of backlog emails to get through and will be working on that the rest of the day, whew!

[fRequEnCy]

Well its done and we are back up, I have 2 days of backlog emails to get through and will be working on that the rest of the day, whew!

Great job Circo! Thanks for all your hard work!

[bkenobi]

Glad to hear! I'll be grabbing some stuff soon and it looks like all the links are working again as well.

[Mayhem]

Why don't you reduce you download to a limit per day per user.

All so you have FLV and AVI ? Why not just one. It only takes a couple of hours to convert AVI to FLV. You are doing to much work for very little. What happens when a new format comes out do you convert and host that as well ????? If you do your bandwidth will out grow its self expendentially and very quickly.

FE should take note and stick to a standard Video format. This would help you all. if you all had standard formats for pics , video , ect ect you would make every ones life so much more easy and all so it would be less stress on people trying to get every thing working together. There is no uniformity with in this business of FE's and there needs to be.

A good saying for you.

You cannot please all the people all the time. But you can please most of the people most of the time.

Personly i would love to have a sub to your site but atm money is pritty tight and im personly investing in my own arcade unit that is costing a small fortune to build. hopefully in the future ill get a sub.

Anmy how keep up to good work and my best wishes to any future venture you and path you may take.

[Circo]

Why don't you reduce you download to a limit per day per user.

All so you have FLV and AVI ? Why not just one. It only takes a couple of hours to convert AVI to FLV. You are doing to much work for very little. What happens when a new format comes out do you convert and host that as well ????? If you do your bandwidth will out grow its self expendentially and very quickly.

FE should take note and stick to a standard Video format. This would help you all. if you all had standard formats for pics , video , ect ect you would make every ones life so much more easy and all so it would be less stress on people trying to get every thing working together. There is no uniformity with in this business of FE's and there needs to be.

A good saying for you.

You cannot please all the people all the time. But you can please most of the people most of the time.

Personly i would love to have a sub to your site but atm money is pritty tight and im personly investing in my own arcade unit that is costing a small fortune to build. hopefully in the future ill get a sub.

Anmy how keep up to good work and my best wishes to any future venture you and path you may take.

I could have got away with the same hosting solution that I had before but sooner or later I would have to move again, I did a lot of research on how much bandwidth (unlimited) actually is, and it's no where near that. And with the way the ftp works there is no real way to limit it. So now it doesn't really matter, I was able to secure a stupid amount of bandwidth Anyway, the reason why flv is used in hyperspin I fully support and I think that will be it as far as formats go. And the work is all involved in making the original sets anyway, but i sincerely appreciate your concern. I know I am not there yet but the goal for the site is to make finding and using all of the videos and artwork sets as simple as possible, and for the site to be stable while doing it. So I think that it will all work out ok, there are a lot of great EmuMovies Supporters that really do make all of this possible. So I will continue to work hard at getting all of this good stuff out to the community.

Thanks for the kind words,

Circo

[papazark]

Questions:

#1 - Do you feel that EmuMovies.com is a worthwhile service to the community?

#2 - Do you feel that this site/project can justify a $20-$25 per year subscription

fee for secure/fast direct downloads?

#3 - Would you recommend EmuMovies.com to a friend?

#4 - Should we close up FTP sign-ups and just stay where we are?

Please keep in mind that any existing "Lifetime" members will keep that access and never be charged a subscription fee. I know this sounds silly, but I am getting ready to dump a healthy portion of savings into this and I need to assure myself that I am making the right decision here. I wouldn't say my user base is huge but it's definitely not small and continues to grow. I have been a long time member to both the BYOAC, GameEx and HyperSpin forums. I am going to post this in all three forums so that I might best gauge interest in this drastic upgrade. Also keep in mind, in the unlikely event that I decide not to make this move, rest assured that the FTP will still continue to operate as it has, I just will not be accepting any additional sign ups for accounts.

I look forward to your honest feedback, I started this project as a way of giving back to the community and also because I just love to do it Thanks again for everyone's support!!

-Circo

hi

I am a ftp user already, so the answers will be pretty obvious

#1 I would say emumovie is an essential service to the community

#2 I don't have any problems paying that amount for a direct ftp access. I could go with torrents and such, but paying the annual fee is my way to thank you for your work.

#3 without hesitation !

#4 if it allows you to stay alive, then yes. just make sure that up-to-date stuff is available easily on torrent files, or any other free medium

I would like to contribute to the project, but I haven't seen an guidelines or tutorial on how you want things to be done.

(to save you some time when auditing)

This project must not die !