Problems with LR4 new videos

[Box Brownie]

In the UK here and I also am having issues with corrupted of broken files.  I did dl #1 and the ToC #40 OK but trying others is getting me nowhere and I have tried a few different local times i.e. now 10pm, also 8am and yesterday I tried I think it was around midday.

Seems as mentioned that the server is overloaded but of course the tutorials are very popular and I surmise many of us bought the pre-release so surely it was known the sort of level of demand???

But heh ho, will just have to keep trying................................................I wonder whether ftp would have been better than http???

[Hans Kruse]

Unfortunately    the heavy download traffic is the cause of the problems....

BTW we do have a limit on the number of connections (500) - so if you cannot even get to the Store, that is the reason

Probably a more sophisticated way of limit would be needed or simply set the limit quite a bit lower. Now I think everybody is wasting time trying and bandwidth is wasted big time with all the failed downloads. Maybe a different hosting to allow for the needed download performance?

[kevk]

The best times during 'Opening Day Rush' are those least convenient for N. American customers  00:00 - 04:00 EST

Good, thanks for that intel!
For my compatriots on the other side of the world from the server:
00:00 - 04:00 in North America's EST with DST =
04:00 - 08:00 UTC =
14:00 - 18:00 in Australia's EST
(= 15:00 - 19:00 for Australia's EST with daylight saving - you know who you are, you lucky southerners!)

[Josh-H]

(= 15:00 - 19:00 for Australia's EST with daylight saving - you know who you are, you lucky southerners!)

I wish.. have tried downloading File 11 more than a dozen times now.. keep getting errors because I get kicked by the server before the download completes.. currently coming down at a cracking 20.0 KB a second.........

[FMueller]

Numerous incomplete downloads and difficulty connecting to the store on this opening day.
I guess this means sales of the video series is a smashing success. Somewhat disappointed that the store is unable to handle the load.  Guess I'll check back in a few days

[michael]

Thanks for everyones understanding.

It's simply not feasible to provision our server for peaks such as this. Even the phone company has to offer up busy signals on Mother's Day, and highways get clogged at rush hour.

Michael

[lhodaniel]

Chris,

I actually have had the opposite problem. I successfully downloaded 1, 2 and 3 together in the wee hours last night. Downloading failed on 4, 5, and 6 repeatedly when downloaded one at a time. To date, the only way I have received good files is to download at least 2 files at a time. Here's a thought: why don't you arrange for some extra bandwidth during times such as this? Even 100% successful, I really don't have 7 hours to download 13 files. To me, this akin to going on a commercial shoot with one underpowered strobe. I love you guys. But, I ordered this 2 months ago and really expect better than to be told to only use 5 % of my internet connection.

Lloyd

[Schewe]

Somewhat disappointed that the store is unable to handle the load.  Guess I'll check back in a few days

Yes...but this is an understandable issue. Bandwidth is not something is easily scaled up/down. I don't know the internals of the LuLa store/server but I'm somewhat familiar with various stores backends. LuLa must arrange and setup for an anticipated average download over a period of time...if LuLa jumped the bandwidth it's something that LuLa would have to do for a longer period of time, which costs more. What Mike and Chris try to do is a balancing act...at the front end, there's big demand, yes, success can hurt. After the initial bump, then things settle down and become normalized.

Sorry that this is biting some people (heck, I've not even tried to download anything yet and I'm on the video).

Chris is doing the best he can...but it's the nature of the beast...if LuLa scaled up by a huge amount, the prices would not be in the same ballpark.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Everybody, just wait a few days before trying to download. I'm quite sure LR4 won't get rancid before next week.
For previous LL videos I've always found quite speedy downloads when I wait a few days.

[schrodingerscat]

Was able to download 1, 2, 3, and 4. 1 & 4 seemed to open fine, but 2 and 3 produce a (error 1 - Operation not permitted.) warning from Archive Utility. Don't know quite what to make of that. i7 27" iMac/ OS 10.6.8.

Then the site locked up, so will try again later in the week.

[mac_paolo]

FWIW, I downloaded several broken archives with Safari. Being European I can download while most of you are still sleeping, however it didn't resolve.
This morning I tried to get the files via Opera instead of Safari (I never kinda liked its vanilla download manager) and voilà, the archives are being downloaded correctly
Time to open remote connection and try to extract those babies on my Mac at home.

[Craig Arnold]

After many failed downloads I guess it's sensible to wait for a few days.

Sending out an email to everyone who has pre-purchased may not have been an optimal strategy.

Http downloads are nasty because they cannot easily be resumed. Perhaps worth considering an ftp site which would allow users to use their store login details to get access to the files. Ftp is a much more robust protocol and copes easily with resuming interrupted downloads. It would certainly save on bandwidth.

It may also be worth looking at hosting Lula on one of the Cloud services which could easily cope with the scaling requirements of this kind of burst traffic. I suggest having a word with Rackspace Cloud Sites hosting as a starting point.

[mac_paolo]

Http downloads are nasty because they cannot easily be resumed.

Actually there's nothing wrong with HTTP xfers, they are easy resumable. It's all a matter of the special links that are used to let the customers only (you have to log first) download the archives.
FTP would be great but how many people know how to use an FTP client here? 10% 25%?

Let us wait a few days

[svein]

I have the same problems as others with "corrupted" zip-files. When I check filesizes then I find that the corrputed files are smaller than they are supposed to be. This is probably the reason why other user's files are corrupt too.

The problem with too short/corrupted files will of course make the situation worse as I and others try again and again waisting bandwith on the server.

My guess is that it's a timeout for downloading somewhere, presumably on the server. If that's the case then increasing this limit (to say three hours) then most downloads would succeed and you'd at least get rid of the retries. Other options would be to decrease the number of concurrent downloads to maybe half, and/or removing half the download files until the server can handle the load.

[Christopher Sanderson]

The store server is still maxed out, but the level of problems is diminishing slowly and denial of entry has diminished - but my suggestion is still to wait out the storm.

Chris

[Photo Op]

Chris- a suggestion going forward. Perhaps one of the reasons for the current "problem" is that several segments were made public at once. Some folks probably think they need all 14 segments immediately. Going forward, based on static bandwidth, finite servers, etc., maybe you could release fewer segments at a time, thereby negating the need for someone to "sit" in download mode. Don't know if that might help.

Anyway, if Schewe wore that black shirt throughout the shoot, I can wait for the remaining episodes.   

Dave

[Christopher Sanderson]

good suggestion - but I only released an hour of the Advanced... and I had better get back to editing some more of it

[Xavier Rival]

The bandwidth issue is very understandable, but the fact that the failed downloads cannot be resumed is very frustrating, as this will only generate even more waste of bandwidth.

Until I saw this thread, I first thought I might have a hardware problem, and then I was convinced the issue was that my internet connection was bad, so I kept retrying. And in the meantime, I realize that most of the data I did download today went to the trash bin due to corrupt files. 

Maybe, an even lower maximum number of connections and an email to the purchasers stating that the server is currently on its knees might help. 

[robest]

Yes. Not being able to resume downloads is exacerbating the problem enormously - I've beening trying to download files 01 and 02 several times since yesterday (1 at a time!) and each time it's failed after many 10's MB - and each time it has to restart from the beginning, wasting all that used bandwidth.

Is there no other solution? I appreciate you need to protect the download links, but other stores provide protected but resumable links....

Hey ho - just itching to watch the videos! Guess I'd better be patient... 

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Is there no other solution?

Yes.

Guess I'd better be patient... 

That's it!