unable to upload video

[helenvarley]

one of the QMU students was not able to upload video. he tried with a file that was under 300MB, then when that didn't work he cut it into smaller files but still couldn't upload it. (some of the other students did upload small videos successfully).

i tried myself, using a 280MB file, on both upstage.live and qmu instance. in both cases, the saving indicator was turning but the percentage never changed from zero. after 10 minutes i stopped. this was using firefox on windows.

now i tried using chrome, to upload to dev-app, & got this error message:
"[Network error]: ServerError: Response not successful: Received status code 413"

[helenvarley]

update: the student was using Safari, & said that the file was an mp3. i answered that mp3 is normally audio, so he should check and use mp4 or another video format. & if that doesn't solve it, to try Chrome.

i've just now myself tried again, using both Brave and Chrome, and was able to successfully upload a 12.5 mp4 video.
it did take quite a long time (ca 5m) to upload, and during this time the saving icon showed 0%, until the last moment when it finished uploading. so it's a bit misleading, when it shows 0% for ages and ages - it gives the feeling that it's not going to work. i've told the student to be patient ...

[gloriajw]

@nnguyenquangg please make a unit test for uploading video to the new backend. Fix this in the new code, not the old. Add this unit tests to the test coverage suite.

[nnguyenquangg]

Hi @gloriajw , I will check it, but I guess it could be related to the maximum payload size of Nginx config

[gloriajw]

Could be. But I would like a unit test in the test coverage for this, so we can test it.

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On Thu, Dec 5, 2024 at 10:03 AM Quang Nguyễn ***@***.***> wrote: Hi @gloriajw <https://github.com/gloriajw> , I will check it, but I think it could be related to the maximum payload size of Nginx config — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1339 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAATMARGNLNTYSEYGF7L5HD2EBTKJAVCNFSM6AAAAABSVKSLYCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKMRQGU3DGNJZGE> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[nnguyenquangg]

@gloriajw Yes, I need to add unit test also

[helenvarley]

could it also be related to #1285 ?

[gloriajw]

Ok, so again, I want to simplify things here. Separate upload limts are confusing. We should have one nginx setting, not tweaking by file type and hoping we covered all of the file types. We need simplicity here.
Pick your max upload limit for the biggest thing we will be uploading, and that will be the limit for all.

[helenvarley]

this is difficult. we need to have a limit, because players often upload unnecessarily large files and this increases stage loading time as well as taking up more storage space. however videos are so much larger than other files, so to have a limit that is suitable for video as well as everything else would mean that there wouldn't really be a limit for everything else.

we supposedly have a maximum upload limit of 1MB for everything except video, with the option for an Admin to over-ride an individual user's limit. the limit for video was set at 300MB.
this was working on previous versions of the rebuilt UpStage; i'm not sure at what point it stopped working.

[gloriajw]

I'm not sure either, but we have to simplify this. It is difficult, and has to get easier.

[helenvarley]

ok. what are the options, technically?

[gloriajw]

I think the right way to do this is to have a generic max upload limit in nginx, and never touch that again.
Then the upload feature can first check the file size on disk and reject, or whatever.
So that devs aren't driven crazy by small problems that are specific to individual users, have generic limits for all users.
Turn them on/off for each user, and when off, the nginx max will prevail.

if you want devs to not leave this project in frustration, we have to get rid of the small annoying tweaky "this works for her but not him" type of problems. That starts will simpler rules and unit tests checking those rules.

[helenvarley]

ok. but if we want to be able to upload video, the generic max upload limit is going to have to be something like 300MB.

could there be a pop-up message for any upload that is over 1MB, saying "Your file is larger than 1MB. Are you sure it needs to be that big? Remember that unnecessarily large files will slow down the load time of your stage, and take up unnecessary space on the server. Please check your file and if possible, make it smaller."

then the player can either cancel the upload and make the file smaller; or, if it's needed to be a larger file, the player can click to upload anyway.

would this be a solution?

[gloriajw]

yes, this could be a good solution.

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On Thu, Dec 5, 2024 at 11:06 AM Helen Varley Jamieson < ***@***.***> wrote: ok. but if we want to be able to upload video, the generic max upload limit is going to have to be something like 300MB. could there be a pop-up message for any upload that is over 1MB, saying "Your file is larger than 1MB. Are you sure it needs to be that big? Remember that unnecessarily large files will slow down the load time of your stage, and take up unnecessary space on the server. Please check your file and if possible, make it smaller." then the player can either cancel the upload and make the file smaller; or, if it's needed to be a larger file, the player can click to upload anyway. would this be a solution? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1339 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAATMAWXL2KKDV63477R3Y32EB2YRAVCNFSM6AAAAABSVKSLYCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKMRQG44DEMZRGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[helenvarley]

ok, then let me & @vickis confer about the wording for the messages - we might need to adjust wording in a few places, e.g. in the window that opens when you first click on "new media", there should be some kind of information there before you try to upload.

[helenvarley]

@vickis - i'm thinking that the message on the upload window could be something like this (i know it's long, but people are more likely to read it here than in the manual):

Before you upload - please check the following!

How big is your file?
For all files except video, please try to keep files UNDER 1MB.
This is to avoid long stage loading times and unnecessary clogging up of the server.

For video: we recommend video files of not more than 300MB.
This is to avoid long stage loading times and ensure optimum experience for your audience.

What format is your file?
Accepted formats are:
images: .svg,.jpg,.jpeg,.png,.gif
audio: .wav,.mpeg,.mp3,.aac,.aacp,.ogg,.webm,.flac,.m4a
video: .mp4,.webm,.opgg,.3gp,.flv for videos

then, if the file that's being uploaded is bigger than 1MB, the following text in a pop-up window:

Your file is larger than 1MB. Are you sure it needs to be that big?
Remember that unnecessarily large files will slow down the load time of your stage, and take up unnecessary space on the server.
Please check your file and if possible, make it smaller.

with options of "Cancel" or "Upload"

what do you think?