Media Converter

12.03.09 - Downtime

2009-03-12T01:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

The site was down very often during the last few days. I am very sorry for that. I thought limiting the conversions to 5 per day would be the best to get rid of the problems. But it looks like as it didn't help a lot. There are too many users so the main server crashs and the website is no more available.

I am going to take the current version down in April and replace it directly with the beta version of the new site. So there will be no separate beta testing phase. I'm sure that the new version will perform much better. So this might be the best solution.

To all premium users:

As I am very sorry for the problems and the inconveniences I extended all accounts for another week.

Sorry again for all inconveniences.

Pascal

01.03.09 - Beta phase announcement

2009-03-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

Yes! The new version is almost done. The public beta phase will start on the 1st of April. So everyone is welcome to help me testing the new version.

And attention! The new version is NOT compatible with IE 6. Internet Explorer 6 is completely out-of-date and is not web standards-compliant. So please make sure to update your browser or switch to a way better browser like Firefox.

Regards
Pascal

08.02.09 - Some details about the new version

2009-01-31T12:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

Just some details about the new version of mediaconverter.org:

- Support for Facebook videos (free)
- Some erotic portals: Youporn, Timtube and Pornhub (premium users)
- Premium users can download adult protected videos on Youtube
- Again 10 free conversions per day (sorry for the inconveniences at the moment)

Some people asked for hulu.com support. This is not possible since I all my servers are located in Germany. The videos on hulu can only be accessed from inside the USA. Sorry!

The new version doesn't just bring new features it also misses some features like support for Office file formats (too much ressources / only a few users).

By the way .. I still accept feature requests for the new version. So feel free to request whatever you're missing in the current version.

Regards
Pascal

24.01.09 - Conversion limit set to 5

2009-01-24T08:47:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

To avoid downtime during the peak times I set the daily conversion limit to 5. This will be reset as soon as the new version is online. So you can convert again 10 files per day.

Thank you for your understanding

Regards
Pascal

15.01.09 - Just some news

2009-01-15T00:10:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As you know from my last post I'm working on a new version of Media Converter. I mentioned that I will release the new version somewhen in February. I think this was too optimistic. There is still too much to do and I don't want to release an unfinished website. So a more realistic release date would be a date in March or April.
I hope you don't mind as the current version can be sometimes really slow during the peak time. Mediaconverter.org now has about 80000 users per day. Maybe too much for this website at the moment.
I'm going to use some new technics to reduce the load time and server load. I hope this will avoid future complications otherwise I'll have to install a load balancer and more servers. Since this isn't very cheap I have to get more premium users. The amount of premiums users is almost always at the same level. I really don't think that it is too expensive. What do I have to do to make more users to sign up? Maybe you can help me out ...

Oh by the way .. please post your requests for new video portals in the new version. I'll do my best to integrate all of them.

Regards
Pascal

15.12.08 - Announcement

2008-11-13T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

Now it's more than two months ago since my last news. In the meantime I wasn't inactive of course. I'm working hard on a new release of mediaconverter.org which will beat the other conversion websites by far with its new features.

Here are just some of the changes:

- The website will be available in different languages. Everyone is welcome to help me to translate the website. At the beginning it will be available in English and German.

- You will be able to queue up to 10 files and convert them all at once

- Completely new design. I won't tell you too much so it's still a surprise ;). You may wonder why I created a new design again. It's just that people with a lower display resolution don't have to scroll down the page after every conversion. So you can access the main features faster than before.

- Support for new websites

- Again two new conversion servers for better performance (total of 10 quad core servers with 4gb ram per server)

- There will be a help chat. This will allow you to talk to each other and share your know-how and may help other persons who have problems to convert their files.

- The conversion wizard will be much easier to understand for beginners. I will add some extra help sections and hints or something like that. I recognized that still too many people have problems to convert their files without any problems. It's hard to make technical things easy to understand for everyone. I hope this is the right step to avoid problems. I will also improve the FAQ as I don't have enough time to answer all the emails and support tickets all the time.

- It's also planned to offer an API so other webmasters can access my infrastructure. The API will follow in an upcoming release since it's not my main focus at the moment.

The current state of the project is approximately 50 - 60%. So there's still a lot left to do. I think I can start beta testing at the end of January so a release will follow somewhen in February. This will result in a interrupt of the service since I have to prepare the servers for the new version.

If you have additional ideas for the new version feel free to contact me. Any help to improve the service is welcome!

Kind regards
Pascal

30.09.08 - Country specific bug fixed

2008-09-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Youtube redirects all users to their localized version. So for instance it wasn't possible to convert files from il.youtube.com due to the domain check (false positive). This will no longer happen.

Sorry for the inconveniences

Regards
Pascal

14.09.08 - Godtube support

2008-09-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Some premium users requested support for godtube.com. So here it is. It's now available for all premium users.

Have fun

Pascal

30.08.08 - Short news

2008-08-30T02:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Mediaconverter.org is growing more and more. The Firefox extension helped to increase the daily user amount to ~35000. I still don't see an end of this process so I ordered once more a new server for this service. This time the server will replace the main server where the website is running (not a conversion server). So this means there will be an interrupt where you won't be able or only partially to access the website.
I'll keep you informed with further blog posts about the exact date/time when I will move the website.
As the most users here on mediaconverter.org are from America and my servers are in Europe many people complained about bad download rates or the website didn't load. These is just because of the distance to the server. Here in Europe the service is very very fast. So I changed the provider to a bigger and more professional provider which has better connections to some internet backbones. I hope you will recognize the difference.

So I wish you a very nice weekend and don't stop spreading this website!

Thank you

Pascal

10.08.08 - Back from holiday

2008-08-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I'm back from my holidays in Mallorca.
Sadly there were some problems with the website for the last 5 days. That's really a pity as I hadn't the chance to check the state of my website everyday.
So I'm sorry for the inconveniences.
The only positive news is that the amount of daily users increased to over 31000 users.

Btw. I extended all premium memberships for 7 days as a small excuse for the problems. If your membership ended in the past few days and your account has been deleted feel free to contact me. We'll find a solution for sure.

Kind regards
Pascal

21.07.08 - Youtube bug fixed

2008-07-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

There was a small but very annoying bug in the Youtube conversion. The conversions always failed if there was a high quality version of the appropriate video.
I never recognized this bug till I tried to convert one of these videos today.

So I'm sorry for the inconveniences!

by the way how do you like the firefox addon?

Regards
Pascal

19.07.08 - Brand new Firefox extension!

2008-07-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

As I mentioned some months ago I planned to create a Firefox extension. Now it's done. It will make it much easier for the Firefox users to convert videos within your browser.

To learn more feel free to visit the official download page at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/8189
Attention! You have to sign up for an account at mozilla.org as this is a brand new addon which has an experimental tag till it's moved to the public zone.
Please write as many review at this page as you can. Because as more reviews I get as faster the extension will be moved to the public zone ;) Thank you very much.

Cheers!

Pascal

03.07.08 - 3 new servers

2008-07-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I just added three brand new quad core servers to this service. Once again an upgrade to make sure this service is still the fastest in the internet ;)

Have fun

Regards
Pascal

30.06.08 - Problems last weekend

2008-06-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

My provider had some network problems this weekend which was the problem that the service didn't work properly.
I'm going to change the provider as this one isn't as professional as I thought. I ordered three brand new quad core servers at a top provider in europe. This will solve this problems for sure.

I'm sorry for the inconveniences

Regards
Pascal

24.06.08 - Important news

2008-06-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

All users who tried to convert more than 10 files the last few days recognized that there is a new limit (10 conversions per day). I got many emails .. of course none of them very positive. Listen ... this website has no ads at all. It has probably the most features of all conversion websites. So many users use this website several times a day. They stress my servers a lot ;) and the users who just want to convert 1 - 5 files a day suffer from these few people.
First I wanted to set a lower limit like one between 5 and 10 conversions per day but this is really too low.
I want to make these people pay for this service. So I can improve it more. The income of the premium service almost cover the costs of the whole service but it still doesn't.

Now some questions to all of you:
- Is the premium service too expensive?
- Would you pay for it if it only costs 5$ per month (without online storage and no increased file size limit)?
- Ugly ads or a clean website monetized by the users who use this service a lot?

Thank you for your understanding and help

Kind regards
Pascal

17.06.08 - Please read this!

2008-06-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Please stop to start conversions over and over again if they do not immediately start to download or to convert. During the peak time it takes a while because the servers are under heavy load.
My traffic just increases unnecessarily. If it doesn't stop I have to limit the conversions per day.

Kind regards

Pascal

04.06.08 - News for premium users

2008-06-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hello

I increased the maximum file size to 500mb. Further I will add many new portals including some erotic portals as many people requested this feature.

So have fun and kind regards
Pascal

12.05.08 - New version online

2008-05-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I'd say it's really difficult to not recognize that there is a new design ;)
Now you can sign up for the premium services and benefit of the new features. There is also a new feature which is also available for the free version.
You can name the output file. Many people whished this feature so it was time to add it ;)
If you want some further details about the premium services please visit the following page:
http://www.mediaconverter.org/index.php?s=c&show=signup

Finally some special thanks to my beta tester Alessandro Rinaldi who gave me a lot of input to make this website more useful and convenient for you.

So have fun and if you find some bugs please contact me! Thank you!

Greetings
Pascal

21.04.08 - Donations?!

2008-04-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

This month are the donations very very rare. I don't know why but it'll become a real problem for me at the end of this month. So please help me and donate some money. If just everyone would donate 1$ I could pay the bills for about 3 months!!

Kind regards
Pascal

11.04.08 - Clarification

2008-04-11T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Some people misunderstood my last blog post. They believe that I'll close the free version of MC. I just said that I'll introduce a paid service. MC will also get a complete redesign. Here is a first impression of the future look and feel.

Screenshot

MC will stay free but there will also be a paid service with many new features for people who want to use it more extensive.
Last month I had to pay 2000$ for this service. Many people donated a total of 800$ and the advertisment earnings were around 600$.
-> 2000 - 800 - 600 = 600$ from my own pocket. As I don't want to perpetuate this situation I decided to make this step.

Greetings
Pascal

01.04.08 - Two new servers added

2008-03-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I already mentioned it in the last post but now its definitive. I added two new servers to the service.

Thanks again for all donations!

Let's convert!

Greetings
Pascal

28.03.08 - News and POLL

2008-03-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I arranged two new servers for mediaconverter.org with 6tb free traffic. So I can decrease the costs every month at least a bit. This is of course also an advantage for you because soon it are 5 servers which will handle the load.
The daily user amount increased to 19000 - 20000 users. That's quite a lot.

By the way ... I'm glad to see that many people donated this month. The goal isn't reached yet but I'm confident that we'll make it.

Now to the poll:

As you may know I'm planning a paid version of mediaconverter.org. Of course it's important for me to know what I should offer that you would pay for it.
Here are some examples of additional features:
- Online disk space for your favourite converted files (something between 1 or 5 gb)
- Additional video portals (for instance: myspacetv, bebo, facebook and so on)
- File manager for the converted files
- No ads
- increased file size limit (200mb - 300mb)

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help

Greetings
Pascal

23.03.08 - New options

2008-03-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I got some requests concerning additional options to set the time offset and duration. Now you can convert a specific part of a video or audio file. So you can remove unwanted intros or whatever.
You can set these new options in step 3 of the conversion wizard. The options have to be set in seconds so you may have to calcuate it first.

Greetings
Pascal

02.03.08 - Office file types are back

2008-03-02T12:20:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

All those users who are using this service since the beginning know that there was once a feature to convert office file types. I removed it after some months because it wasn't as successful as I expected.
But I started a poll about new features some months ago and some users suggested to integrate the office file types again. Now here they are again ;) ..

Enjoy it and don't forget to donate. Still over 600$ left ;(

Greetings

Pascal

26.02.08 - Call for donations

2008-02-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hello folks!

It's once more time for donations. This month will be really expensive. The traffic costs are approximately 500$ which I can't pay from the advertisment earnings. At least the server costs are covered. So please help me with a small donation. Thank you very much.

Edit:
I got the bill today. 870$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no comment .. please please donate!

Kind regards
Pascal Beyeler

23.02.08 - Current slowdown

2008-02-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

My provider limited the speed of two conversion servers. So sometimes it may happen that the download process lasts very long. This will be fixed on monday.

Have a nice weekend and don't drink too much beer tonight :)

Cheers
Pascal

17.02.08 - New support center

2008-02-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

I added a new support ticket system. So I can handle all the requests and questions in a better and more effective way than before.

Support center

Cheers
Pascal

14.02.08 - Current problems

2008-02-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

If I have a look at the news box on the website I don't see many positive topics :) The last few days weren't very successful for me and the service. Many problems made it sometimes impossible to use the service. That's why I decided to implement a new feature in the backend to improve the performance. It didn't work as it should in the beginning but I'm sure it will in the next few days.
Over 12 thousand users per day need a lot of ressources. The last configuration was quite not optimal. All files were stored on one server and all others servers had to access them through the internet/network. So the main server was the bottle neck of the whole service. Now I made every server independent. So they can run at their normal performance. But anyway I don't want to start a tech talk here. Just as a bit of information for the users who tried convert their files in the last few hours/days and sadly failed.

So let's hope the best for the future and sorry again for the inconveniences.

Greetings
Pascal

13.02.08 - Performance improvement

2008-02-13T14:26:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

Now Media Converter has a great load balancing between the 4 servers. So the service is much faster during the peak times!
Have fun and don't forget to donate.

Greetings
Pascal

09.02.08 - Some features removed

2008-02-09T04:24:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As you can seen I removed two features from the website so there's only the new conversion wizard left. I made this step due to performance reasons. Now I have more free memory because I could shutdown the MySQL database which was only necessary for the conversion queue and some other things.
I also removed the picture in the upped center of the website. So you don't have to scroll down the page to see the whole conversion wizard if you have a low display resolution.

Now have a nice weekend

Greetings
Pascal

07.02.08 - 10 hours downtime

2008-02-07T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

Due to a problem in the datacenter was the whole service not working for about 10 hours. I'm sorry for that.

Regards
Pascal

30.01.08 - Download problems

2008-01-30T12:53:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

It looks like as there's again a problem with my service. Some downloads cancel after a few seconds. I guess this happens due to the heavy load during the peak times.
At the moment is the service running on 4 servers. One main server where the web server is running and where all the files are stored. Three other servers convert the files and store them to the central server. It looks like as the central server isn't able to handle the whole load. So it stops sometimes after a few seconds. I guess another problem is that not all four servers are in the same computer center. So the files have to be sent over the internet from one server to another.
I'll contact my provider to move all servers in one computer center. Maybe it helps...

Cheers
Pascal

13.01.08 - News and stats

2008-01-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

Just to clarify: Some days ago I published a blog entry which said that MC becomes commercial. I wrote this while I was in a bad mood because donations are very rare and don't cover the costs. The day after I deleted the entry because I thought this can't be the solution. I know many users of this website don't have a lot of money. They barely cover their own costs of living. So I have to beg the users who have a job and have some money left to donate. PLEASE DONATE!!:)

Here are some stats about the website from april 2007 till now.

Visitor statistics:
PDF download

Data traffic (year 2007)
PNG image

As you can see MC crossed the 10000 users per day mark. MC becomes definitely the biggest website I've ever had.

And as a small side note I added a new file type -> MKV.

I wish you a nice sunday and keep donating!!

Cheers
Pascal

27.12.07 - Problems solved

2007-12-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

There were massive problems in the download process the last few hours. This happened due to the recent changes (new video portals).
That's why I had a night shift today ;) It's 3:40 am here. Time to sleep :)
good night

By the way: I'm very sorry for the inconveniences

Regards
Pascal

26.12.07 - New video portals

2007-12-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As you can see I added several new video portals to the conversion wizard. So now it's possible to convert videos from Blip.tv, Break.com, Dailymotion, LiveVideo, MetaCafe, Veoh and Youtube.

Just for information: This time I was as close as never before to make a paid version of Media Converter. So that you have to pay a very small and reasonable price for the new portals and a Firefox extension (I won't publish the Firefox extension now). The idea was to cover the costs and maybe to get some money for me because I spent so many hours for this website and haven't got a lot of it yet.
But in some way I felt bad because of that. This website is still a hobby for me. A very time-consuming one .. but one with passion.

As I was still a bit in Christmas mood I decided to make a present and offer it for free.

Cheers

Pascal

23.12.07 - More conversion options

2007-12-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

I just added the long-awaited audio and video codec selection to step 3 in the conversion wizard.

Regards
Pascal

Merry Christmas to all of you.

20.12.07 - Order changed

2007-12-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

As you can see I changed the order of the elements in step one of the conversion wizard. I hope it doesn't confuse you too much. I just thought it's better to make the Youtube point the first one because it's the most used feature.
If you don't agree just write a comment. If there are enough people which complain about the order I'll change it back to the old way ;)

Regards
Pascal

17.12.07 - 2 new servers

2007-12-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As mediaconverter.org is growing (7000+ users per day and 4+ tb traffic per month) it needs some new servers to still offer a fast service. So I ordered two new servers. I'd appriciate if you could help me and donate some money. Thank you!

Regards
Pascal

15.12.07 - Network problems and news

2007-12-15T06:54:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

The last two days was my providers network a bit unstable. So it happened that in the evening (GMT+1 at 7pm or 8pm) the servers were unreachable. It's really a pitty because it's the peak time of the European users. I hope it won't happen again in the next few days. I'm sorry for the inconveniences.
But anyway the daily user amount almost doubled since the end of september. That's great and I hope it'll increase more and more.
I also published an Arabian version of Media Converter in cooperation with Mohammad Al-Fares from swalif.net (30'000 users a day). It's available here http://www.7awel.com.

And now have a nice weekend

Regards
Pascal

01.12.07 - First poll summary

2007-12-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hello

Thanks for the first answers to my poll. Here is a small summary with my answers.

Suggestion #1: Selecting multiple files for conversion

As the person who suggested this feature already mentioned in its comment will this feature increase the data traffic. At the moment I won't add this feature due to the traffic problem. I know it is time consuming to convert many files but you can open multiple tabs in your browser and convert a file in every tab.

Suggestion #2: Bigger help section or tutorials

I see .. there are still some persons who have problems to understand the way my website works. I'll add some video and text tutorials to make sure that everybody can handle the conversion wizard.

Suggestion #3: More supported file formats for example mp4 to mp3

Basically the mp4 to mp3 feature is already working. To get the sound of a video simply select a sound file format (mp3) from the drop down menu in the conversion wizard.
And I know everybody wants as many file formats as possible. But I have to ask you seriously. Do you really need so many file types? I know other conversion websites in the internet which offer soooo many file types. I'm sure at least the half of it is useless. If you're really missing a file type which is supported by a mobile device and isn't available on mediaconverter.org then tell me. I think I made the most common file formats available on MC.

Suggestion #4: A video to gif converter

The converter in the background supports this kind of operation. So I converted some sample movies and had to recognize that they look terribly bad. Animated gifs support only 256 color (with my used converter) images. So the video looks really really bad. I'm sorry. It would be a nice feature to add small gif videos in forum signatures and so on. But I can't offer this. Sry

Suggestion #5: Get facebook videos to work

I can't add every famous website to Media Converter. I suggest to use my Media Pirate (http://www.mediapirate.org) application to get the video or just the URL to the video and convert them with MC afterwards.

Suggestion #6: SWF converter

I tried to add this feature so many times. But I haven't found a way that works with all swf files. The problem is the converter can't convert swf files with menus. It is only able to convert simple swf videos with no interactive links or menus. So if I would add this file type I couldn't guarantee that it works with all files.

Suggestion #7: Naming the output files

I know I owe you this feature but it is so circumstantial to add it :) I was always too lazy to integrate it. It needs some major modifications in the scripts. I always try to keep the scripts as simple as possible .. :) But I'll try my best.

Suggestion #8: Converting/downloading videos which have no download links

It's almost the same problem as in suggestion #5. I already created a product to bypass this problem. Go to http://www.mediapirate.org.

So that's it for the moment. I hope you're happy with my answers or understand at least why I can't add some features.

I wish you a nice day
Pascal

30.11.07 - Poll (Please participate)

2007-11-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hello world

First of all I'd like to thank all the persons who donated money the last few days. You made me happy because I don't have to pay so much from my pocket for the traffic.

And now to the main topic. I'd like to know which features you're missing on mediaconverter.org. Feel free to tell me your suggestion. Just write a comment below. I'm really interested and would like to improve the website more and more.

For example one feature could be to set a start and stop position for the conversion. This feature will follow in some days.

Now be creative and write a comment. Thanks

Oh and maybe you have an idea for a completly different website which you're missing in the internet. Maybe I can create it :)

Regards
Pascal

27.11.07 - Again new features

2007-11-27T08:39:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

It looks like as I have too much time since I'm away from the army. As I have no job at the moment I have much time for mediaconverter.org

That's why I added a brand new feature and partly it's a world novelty.

I added a new point to the conversion wizard -> "Convert a file by url (http, ftp, mms, mmst, mmsh and rtsp)"
This makes it possible to convert a file by any URL (not just Youtube). Use www.mediapirate.org or similar video downloader websites to get the URLs and enter them in the conversion wizard. So you can save time and work because you don't have to download the video first to convert it. Media Converter does the job for you.

Now to the world novelty (I don't know any other website which offers this service):
You can capture and convert mms or rtsp streams online. Just copy the URL to the field and that's it. The server captures the stream and stores the media file for the conversion.

Now I need a break :) I wish you a nice day/evening (where ever you are from)

Kind regards
Pascal

26.11.07 - Speed doubled

2007-11-26T13:43:00.001-08:00

Hello MC users

I killed two birds with one stone which means I solved all problems and was also able to improve the speed of mediaconverter.org.
The application now downloads from two servers and converts on both machines. So I doubled the speed of the conversions.

I hope this solution is good enough for the next big rush.

Oh as you can see I added a new ad at the top of mediaconverter.org :)

Regards
Pascal

25.11.07 - Future plans

2007-11-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As I wrote yesterday the donations will not cover the costs. I'll add a bit more ads to the website. I also found another way to bypass the traffic problem at least a bit. This or next month I'll add a very fast and new server to mediaconverter.org. Why? It's simple .. the current server is already too slow again :)

I have to change my scripts so the load will be balanced between three servers. The conversion speed will be at least two or three times faster than before.
This will be my small christmas gift for you.

Oh before I forget it. I'll add a progress bar for the conversion. I think I've found a way to create it.

Don't worry! Media Converter will never go down.

Kind regards
Pascal

24.11.07 - Good and very bad news

2007-11-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone

As I'm a positive thinking person I will tell you the good news first :)
I got it to leave the army. I went to the psychologist and told him a nice story. They let me go for a year. Now I have to visit a private psychologist to get away from the army forever. I hope it'll work ;)

Now to the bad news. The donations can not cover the additional traffic costs this month and I guess they will never do. So I have to look for another provider with much free traffic and fast servers. I will pay the amount from my pocket but next month I need a solution. It's really a pitty. The providers tend to limit the traffic more and more. So it's really difficult for all websites like mine to survive.
I'll do my best to find a solution very soon.

Regards
Pascal

10.11.07 - Donations for more speed

2007-11-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Hello again

I contacted my provider again and told them they should increase the bandwith to 100 mbit/s. This results in more costs for me. After some calculations I got an amount of approximately 300$ per month. I hope you'll help me to pay this bill. That's why I added the new Donate-O-Meter in the menu. It's just for your best because the speed is really bad at the moment.

I hope they will increase the bandwith at the beginning of the next week so you can download and upload with full speed again.

I'm sorry for the inconveniences

Kind regards
Pascal

10.11.07 - Small sign of life

2007-11-10T03:19:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone

Now I was for two weeks in the Swiss army and I'm still alive. Something like spare time didn't exist for me. We spent much time outdoor and here in Switzerland it's really cold at 1000 meters above sea level. There was also some snow yesterday. I'm happy to be at home for one and a half day. I'm trying to get away from the army. I don't want to stay there for 21 weeks. So it's possible that I'll be back next week. That's not for sure but it would be nice :) The military is something really senseless particularly in Switzerland ;)

I got an email with some complains about the speed of mediaconverter.org. It would be too slow. It's a pity that I have to confirm that. Due to the limitation of the network connection to 10mbit/s is the loading time of the website too long. Also the download and upload of the files is affected. I have to search another provider. I already contacted my provider but they don't want to change anything. 1 Terabyte of free traffic per month is simply not enough for this kind of service. Now are 10 days over and the traffic limit is almost reached!. This month you'll beat the 3 tb mark.

All right I wish you a nice weekend

Kind regards
Pascal

28.10.07 - Call of duty

2007-10-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Now it's time to say goodbye for a long time. I'll be away for about 5 to 6 months. I have to go to the swiss army.
But no reason to worry about my sites. I employed a good friend who will look after my websites. His name is Mirco and he will answer all the emails and tries to help you with your conversion problems or whatever.
I'm sure he'll do a great job so don't hesitate to contact him when you have a problem. He'll check the email account once a day. So you'll get an answer at least at the end of the day. Use my email address from the contact link. He has access to my account. So don't be confused when you get an email from my email address but with a foreign name :)

I wish you a nice time and do not overload my server :)

Regards
Pascal

20.10.07 - Too many conversions

2007-10-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

It's hard to say but the server reached its capacity limit again :(
Since I added the new conversion wizard the data traffic doubled! Too many conversions are running at the same time. In rushhours are up to 15 conversions. That's way too much. Some conversions last 30 minutes and more. That's also too long.
The website does not have more visitors than before but the users convert too many files. I guess that's because I've removed the registration and other limits. So it's more convenient.
I think I have to limit it again. The only problem is I have no time ..
The traffic limit of 1 terabyte is also reached since yesterday. So the speed of my server has been limited to 10mbit/s :(

I ask you to not convert unnecessary files. Don't use this service for every video which you'd like to store on your hard disk. It's also for your advantage when you can convert a file fast when you need it...

Kind regards
Pascal

16.10.07 - WAP Youtube conversion

2007-10-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Another day with great news for you. I released the WAP Youtube conversion service. I recognized that many users wanted to convert videos directly from their mobile. So that's the result

http://www.mediaconverter.org/?s=wap

I hope you like it.

Kind regards
Pascal

15.10.07 - Here it is again ;)

2007-10-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Dear old conversion form users :)

Due to heavy complains I brought the old conversion form back to the website.
You can access it via the "The old conversion wizard" link in the menu.

The control panel is still missing and it will never come back. At the moment it's just too much work to bring it back. (to integrate it properly in both wizards)

In two weeks it's time to go to the swiss army and I have too much to do till then. Sorry!
I'll be away for almost a have year. I'll be only at the weekends at home.
So I hope you understand that.

All right .. have fun with the old conversion wizard

Regards
Pascal

14.10.07 - Okay Okay!

2007-10-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Not everybody liked the changes in the last few days as I can see. I decided to bring the control panel and the notification email back. So you can choose between waiting online or receiving a confirmation email.
But it will take some time. It's a totally new script. I have to add many things to reenable these features.

So stay tuned I'll inform you as soon as it's done. I thought it's the better solution now .. but I was wrong. Sorry

Oh and the problem with "not authorized" happens when you're using a firewall which deletes the referrer information in http request. I removed this check. So it won't happen again.

Kind regards
Pascal

12.10.07 - Big changes

2007-10-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

As you can see have many things changed on the website. Now it's no more necessary to register. This results in the loss of the control panel.
Now you have to wait online till the file has been converted. I guess that's better than to wait for the notification email.
Please report all bugs to pascal.beyeler@temporaryforwarding.com

Oh I forgot to mention that I solved the very annoying problem with the special chars in the file name. Now it's possible to upload files with special chars ...

Thank you very much

Pascal

05.10.07 - Unknown encoder 'mp3'

2007-10-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

Some conversions failed in the last hour with the error "Unknown encoder 'mp3'". This happened due to a converter update. They changed some commands in the update so that my scripts didn't work properly. Everything should work fine now...

Regards
Pascal

03.10.07 - More conversion options

2007-10-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

hello again

I added a most wanted feature to mediaconverter.org. Now you can also set the audio bitrate, video bitrate and the resolution for your file.

Have fun

Regards
Pascal

02.10.07 - New control panel

2007-10-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I added a new control panel for all registered users. There you can get more detailed information about your activities on mediaconverter.org.
I won't add more description here. Just try it out. Everything should be self-explanatory.

Kind regards
Pascal

25.09.07 - Monthly traffic limit reached!

2007-09-25T02:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Bad news.
My provider limited the internet connection to 10mbit/s. My server reached the 1 terabyte mark for this month. This means that either I have to pay 0.09 Euro Cents for every gigabyte traffic or they reduce the speed to 10 mbit/s.
I can't afford option one so I have to choose the second one ;) ...
I guess this problems exists only this month. Some big websites linked to the executable file of "Media Converter SA Edition" on my server. They produced 500 gigabyte of traffic ..
So don't worry I don't need another new server :) It's just a temporary problem.

kind regards
Pascal

10.09.07 - MC in the press!

2007-09-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I have another success story from my Media Converter SA Edition ;)
Maybe the biggest computer game magazine in germany, Gamestar, wrote an article about my converter and gave it a 1.0! That's the best you can get! That makes me really proud and I see that it's worthy to create programs for the public.
The last few days I had over 100'000 downloads! That's great!

Thank you Gamestar.de!

Regards
Pascal

29.08.07 - New link

2007-08-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Maybe you've already recognized the new link in the menu. It links to another website called mediapirate.org which belongs to me.

And now the background:

Some people asked me to support other websites than Youtube. So they can convert the files directy with a link.
This is sometimes a very circumstancial and time-consuming job. I have to write scripts for every website to "steal" the videos. As soon as the websites change their source code my service wouldn't work anymore. Because the scripts searchs for special patterns in the source code to detect the media file.

At mediapirate.org you can download media files from several websites like:
blip.tv, break.com, dailymotion.com, livevideo.com, media.putfile.com, metacafe.com, video.google.com, vidilife.com, vids.myspace.com, youtube.com, zippyvideos.com

After downloading you can convert the files with Media Converter SA Edition or upload them again to mediaconverter.org for conversion.

But I searched for a better way to get around the limitation to a few websites. So that you can download the movie files from all websites in the internet!!!
Soon I found a way but I had to learn C++ (a programming language) to program this kind of application. The result is a brand new application which is the only one in the internet with this functionality. It is able to grab all video or audio files from websites in the internet (except streamed videos or audio).
You just have to start the application and it will listen in the background on a network adapter, while you're surfing, for media files. So you can grab all media files and convert them afterwards.
Sounds cool? Yes it is .. because its from me hehehehe ;)

There's only one thing left to say:
You can download this application as a freeware tool but then it's limited to 5 websites (Youtube.com, Dailymotion.com, MyVideo.de, Break.com and LiveVideo.com). You have to pay 5$ or 15$ for a license to activate it for all websites. More information at http://www.mediapirate.org/?s=s

NO! I don't have any commercial minds behind this application. I have to pay 2 servers at the moment and the fees are aweful!! The advertising earnings from my websites are horrible as well. So I had to find a way to finance my hobby. This is my first paid application. I hope you'll like it even if you don't buy a license.

And now have fun ..
Kind regards
Pascal

24.08.07 - Youtube problems fixed

2007-08-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

The youtube downloader had a bug and sometimes it couldn't download the files properly. So you always got the email "couldn't convert the file" with no log information.
It's fixed now and everything should work again!

Regards
Pascal

05.08.07 - New file size

2007-08-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hello

I increased the file size for the file upload to 100 mb.

Regards
Pascal

04.08.07 - Server changed!!!

2007-08-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome on the brand new server

I hope this server performs well! Now mediaconverter.org has its own server without any other websites running on it. Now I think the server should have enough power to handle bigger files and so on. I'll increase the limit in the next few hours/days :)

Kind regards
Pascal

03.08.07 - Got the new server

2007-08-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Luckily I got the new server within some hours after the order. Now I can begin to set it up. This will take a lot of time. But till monday everthing should be up and running which will result in a small interruption of the service in the meantime. I have to switch the service.
For more information stay tuned.

Kind regards
Pascal

31.07.07 - Good news!

2007-07-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

The first good news:
I just came back from my 10 day holidays in Mallorca and luckily I survived ;) And it seems as everything worked fine in the meantime without any problems.

The second good news:
I got enough donations to order the new server. THANK YOU ALL so much for the help.
I'll order it in the next few days.

Regards
Pascal

04.07.07 - New server needed!

2007-07-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

As you may noticed my server is very slow sometimes. It's simply overloaded. Help me with a small donation to rent a new server.
400$ are necessary to order and install it. Every bit helps! So don't be shy if you won't donate so much. Just go on and help mediaconverter.org. It's also for your advantage.

To make a donation just go to the main page http://www.mediaconverter.org and press the "Make a donation" button.

Thank you very much for your help and understanding

Kind regards
Pascal

03.07.07 - SA Converter 0.8

2007-07-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I just released a new version of the Media Converter SA Edition

Changelog 0.7 -> 0.8

Added batch conversion
New audio bitrate (160)
Fixed some small bugs
Error report improvements

Download it here

Kind regards
Pascal

22.06.07 - Youtube fixed

2007-06-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I fixed the problem with the localized youtube pages.
es. youtube.com and so on should work now.

Regards
Pascal

20.06.07 - More ads

2007-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

I had to add more ads on the website. I'm sorry. The server causes a lot of traffic but the advertisements didn't pay very well till now.
I hope it's not too annoying for you. But this has to be because the service is free for you but not for me ;)

If you want to help me with a donation you can do this here.
http://www.mediaconverter.org/index.php?s=helpme

Thanks for your understanding

Pascal

16.06.07 - Problem solved

2007-06-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hello

The problem is solved now. If you still have some problems to receive the notification emails please let me know.

Kind regards
Pascal

15.06.07 - Big problems!!!

2007-06-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello

My mail server is totally overloaded. The results are delayed notification emails. In the worst case it won't send any notification emails. So I suggest to use the downloadable converter to avoid the problems for the moment.
I'm doing my best to solve the problem as soon as possible.

I'm so sorry

Kind regards
Pascal

12.06.07 - SA converter 0.7 rel.

2007-06-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello

I released a new version of the "Media Converter SA Edition".

The following changed since the last version:

Added tray icon support
Added a new format -> 3g2
Fixed some small bugs
Updated ffmpeg version
Updated the installer -> new UI
Removed Beta status

You can download the newest version here

I hope you'll be happy with the newest version.

Kind regards
Pascal

27.05.07 - New SA converter ver.

2007-05-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello

Today I released the new version of the Media Converter SA Edition.

Changelog 0.5.3 -> 0.6

Added menu entry "Help -> Check for updates"
Added video bitrate selection
Added some new video resolutions
Added new audio bitrates
Added bitrate copy function

Download it here

Kind regards
Pascal

13.05.07 - Converter released

2007-05-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hello @ all

I published the first beta version of the stand-alone converter. There might be many bugs. If you find one please write an email with a detailed bug report.

Here you can download the converter:
http://www.mediaconverter.org/?s=saconverter

enjoy it!
Kind regards
Pascal

10.05.07 - Stand-alone converter

2007-05-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hello @ all

I decided to start the development for a downloadable stand-alone converter. I made a lot of progress the last few days. I'd like to show you a first impression of the converter.

I hope you like it. I think the first downloadable version will be released this month. So stay tuned and return soon to my website.

Preview screenshot:

Kind regards
Pascal

03.05.07 - MC stays free

2007-05-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hello @ all

I saw some people asking if Media Converter will stay free in the future.
YES it stays free. I have no time to integrate a paid system :). And because there are enough other solutions which are available for free. So my chances to earn money with that are really small and I'd lose a lot of users.

I just hope that there are some people who will donate from time to time via paypal.com.
http://www.mediaconverter.org/index.php?s=helpme

And maybe when my programming skills are improved I'll create an own standalone converter for download. But I have almost no time this year :) So don't be glad too early ;) It's just a thought ...

So enjoy using my service for free.
Kind regards
Pascal

01.05.07 - Huge delay in queue

2007-05-01T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hello @ all

Bad news today! The queue crashed again. There are more than 400 files in the queue at the moment. It will take many hours until this delay is over.

I'm very sorry

regards
Pascal

22.03.07 - Too many files queued

2007-03-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hello

Bad news. I think I have to limit the amount of conversions per day. There are too many conversions a day. My server isn't fast enough.

I think I'll add a paied service where you can convert more files for less money.
But very important for me is to know if you would pay for online file conversions and how much. Just leave a comment in this entry or write an email.

Kind regards
Pascal

19.03.07 - New file types added

2007-03-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Hello

I added a office package to mediaconverter.org
Now Media Converter is able to convert the following new file types:

doc to odt, pdf
ods to xls, pdf
odt to doc, pdf
odp to ppt, pdf
ppt to odp, pdf
xls to ods, pdf

Enjoy it!
Regards
Pascal

07.03.07 - WMV problems solved

2007-03-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hi

I solved the problem with the wmv files. Earlier it was impossible to play these files in any Windows Media Player versions. Now it works.

Kind regards
Pascal

05.03.07 - Big run causes delays

2007-03-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

Hello users

I'm sorry for the delays in the queue at the moment. Mediaconverter.org got top listed at del.icio.us and experiences a big run. So please be patient if your file doesn't get converted within some minutes.

Kind regards
Pascal

03.03.07 - Added Youtube access

2007-03-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hello fans

I added a new feature. Now you can convert files directly with a link from Youtube. No need to download it first and upload it again. Media Converter does everything for you.

Kind regards
Pascal

01.03.07 - Added mp4 support

2007-03-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Affecting the demand for mp4 decoding and encoding support I added the mp4 conversion to mediaconverter.org

Try it out

kind regards
Pascal

p.s. help me spreading this service http://www.spreadmyapps.com

28.02.07 - Queue problems

2007-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

The queue process in the background locked up itself and stopped working.
I fixed it now and I'm doing my best that it won't happen again.
Maybe it takes up to several hours till all files get converted.

I apologize for the inconvenience

regards
Pascal

25.02.07 - Spread my apps

2007-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hello @ all

I started a campaign to spread my web services. In the past I did a lot for the community. I created lots of free web services just for you. Now it's time you do something for me. Help me spreading my websites.

Go to http://www.spreadmyapps.com and learn more.

Thanks for your help

Kind regards

Pascal

19.02.07 - Conversion problems

2007-02-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hi @ all

There are huge problems with the Windows Media Player. WMP isn't able to play almost no converted file from mediaconverter.org.
It's a problem with the converter which runs in the background called ffmpeg.
Media players like VLC have no problems with the files. It's just the .....Windows Media Player.
I'm working hard to fix this as soon as possible. Stay tuned...

Kind regards

Pascal Beyeler

10.02.07 - New file size limit

2007-02-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

I increased the file size limit to 50mb.

regards

Pascal

09.02.07 - 3gp decoding support

2007-02-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

I fixed a problem with Mac OSX and added full 3gp support. I hope it all works as it should

regards

Pascal

05.02.07 - Beta phase started

2007-02-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

Mediaconverter.org is now in it's beta phase. Feel free to test all things. Report any bugs you may find. Thank you

kind regards

Pascal