Club Meetings via Videoconference

[Peter Boughton]

As part of the Pro package to which the club subscribes, 1 GB of Cloud storage is included. That sounds a lot, but video can consume a lot of disk space. If we exceed the limit, the club will be charged for the additional storage used. Given that the meeting tomorrow could be up to two hours in duration, that might well happen. There is a function to record meetings onto the computer's local hard drive and I will experiment with that tonight. The solution might be to hold any recordings on the club's existing hosting service. Peter, of course, is best placed to advise about that.

Thanks Mike. As you say, a 2hr video could be anywhere from 200mb to 2gb (depending on resolution/quality/etc) - but even at the larger end, the club's hosting provides enough space to be able to store over a dozen such recordings, though that's probably not necessary - each recording could probably be removed after a few days, or a couple of weeks at most.

[Mike Farley]

...... each recording could probably be removed after a few days, or a couple of weeks at most.

I agree with that. Most recordings will lose their currency quite quickly. Even if we do end up using the Cloud storage, they would be removed fairly quickly to free up space. Let's see what happens when we experiment this evening.

It is also worthwhile pointing out that scores will be published as normal via PhotoEntry after competitions which will give some indication of the judge's view even if the remarks are not available.

[Mike Farley]

......a 2hr video could be anywhere from 200mb to 2gb (depending on resolution/quality/etc)

I ran a test during tonight's VC and a 45 minute recording require 1 GB of disk space. If we have a full length meeting for the DPI competition, which could happen as we have 75 images to go through, that would be around 3 GB.

[Mike Farley]

Mike I will keep it simple THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR DOING

Thanks, Bett (and Iggy). It has been a fair bit of work with the reward seeing so many people joining in on the test sessions. Let's see how many we get tomorrow evening.

[Mike Farley]

Where Croydon Camera Club leads, others follow. In this instance, it is the government with the Cabinet meeting remotely and using Zoom for the videoconference. The only security issue is not the application or software but Boris who included the meeting ID when he tweeted this image.

[walterconquy]

HI Mike, I looked up the Zoom video on the internet, and there were a lot of comments on the security systems on Zoom. I am a loth to click on to it if there are such problems.
Have you seen these and if so can we do something to protect ourselves?
Wally

[walterconquy]

Hi,I see the video thing about Zoom but if you look up techcrunch and what they say about zoom it looks to me quite problematic.
It seems quite easy for hackers to install Mal Ware into any computer.
Good luck with this evening but I don't think I will be entering even if its not too late to show my images.
Regards Wally

[Mike Farley]

The TechCrunch article concludes:

"In fairness, Zoom is not inherently bad and there are many reasons why Zoom is so popular. It’s easy to use, reliable and for the vast majority it’s incredibly convenient."

The article also says that none of the alternatives are without their own issues. Having looked at the concerns documented documented in the article, some of them do not apply to the way that we use Zoom, are possibly theoretical e.g. Zoombombing or have been fixed.

The bottom line is that a lot of people are using Zoom and it offers a good solution to keep in contact during the Covid-19 outbreak. Tonight's club meeting went well and our members enjoyed the opportunity to socialise with each other. It is, of course, an individual choice to decide whether a few shortcomings are sufficient reason not to participate in our meetings.

[walterconquy]

Hi People, as you all know my email has not been working for a while, I actually thought I had fixed it yesterday, but it seems I have to wait 5or6 days more. I will have to change my password it seems.
So could you pass me the link to join zoom on club nights. I tried Mike yesterday but as I cannot email out and receive any in I am stranded.
I hope this reaches out to all of you. I hope this can be read by you as its a link from an older message.
Regards Wally

[Mike Farley]

Hi Wally

I have just sent an e-mail reminder with the invitation to everyone which you might or might not have received depending on the current status of your e-mail account. I have also tried phoning but did not get a response. It is a long and convoluted URL, so I am not sure how to get it to you if your e-mail is not working. It is not possible to publish it on the forum as it needs to be kept private.