Keeps downloading

Bob,

You may need to delete the pando package before you try to download something else. The package is most likely on your desktop. It would say something like "PresidentialPolitics.mp4.pando". Drop that in the trash, then empty the trash, then try to download something else.

Post back and let me know if this works.

Matt

Matt Goudey
Video Technology Coordinator
Vermont Community Access Media
208 Flynn Ave Suite 2G
Burlington, VT 05401
802.651.9692

I don't mean to CLEAR it from the Pando menu. I mean you may have to delete the file labeled "PresidentialPolitics.mp4.Pando" on your desktop. If you don't see it there let me know and I will try to find out where your computer stores the Package files. Clearing it from the Pando menu doesn't delete the package file.

Matt Goudey
Video Technology Coordinator
Vermont Community Access Media
208 Flynn Ave Suite 2G
Burlington, VT 05401
802.651.9692

This file should be on your desktop somewhere.

Problem Solved. Here is the update for all those who may have a similar problem.

The issue was not a download or Pando issue. It was actually not a mistake at all, but the way the VMX is designed to work, which is encouraging. When you download from Pando the file goes into a folder in the location User/Pando Packages/Singles (provided you set up your computer correctly) and stays there. If you click make MPEG2 immediately after clicking the download, the computer will wait for the file to finish downloading before transcoding... maybe... I'll explain briefly...

The automation in this process depends on the examination of the Singles folder several times in a short period of time. If the folder changes, in any way, the transcode won't start. Which means, as long as you are still downloading the filesize of the download will change every second – thus delyaing the transcode. When the download is complete the filesize will remain the same during the Singles folder examination and the automated transcode begins. Herein lies a potential problem...

If you have a network stall or shut down, but the computer stays on, the file will stop downloading before it is finished, leaving an essentially broken movie file in the "singles" folder. But since the downloading stopped, the filesize will remain the same throughout the examination of that folder, and the transcode will start. Obviously the transcode will not produce a working movie, since it never finished downloading.

So, my advice to all, to help avoid this type of issue in the future, is to ALWAYS wait until the file has successfully completed downloading before clicking the Make MPEG2 button in the VMX app.

The next part of this is that when you transcode a file, there is a log in the folder VMX/ffmepg_transcodes. Those log files keep track of all the programs that have been transcoded. This is to avoid duplication. Since the file never finished transcoding (because the process was cancelled every time) the log file was not created, which meant that every time Make MPEG2 was pressed, this was the first file to start. We deleted the partially downloaded file from the Singles folder, and we deleted the partially transcoded file from the VMX/MPEG2 folder, and then emptied the trash. (VERY IMPORTANT STEP!!! Don't forget to empty the trash. Macintosh OS journaling will keep track of files that you move, even if you move them to the trash. You have to empty the trash for the deletion to take affect.)

Matt Goudey
Video Technology Coordinator
Vermont Community Access Media
208 Flynn Ave Suite 2G
Burlington, VT 05401
802.651.9692