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[Feature Request] [PRO] Flexible Video Resolution & Duration Limits (Keeping the 200MB Cap)

Feature Request

Hello everyone / Primfeed Team:

Currently, the Primfeed PRO membership offers fantastic features for sharing Second Life media. For video uploads, the current limits are set as follows:

  • Max Duration: 10 minutes

  • Max File Size: 200 MB

  • Max Resolution: 720p

While this setup works great for longer videos, content creators, photographers, and machinimatographers who want to upload shorter clips (such as pose showcases, texture close-ups, AO animation previews, or quick 1-to-3 minute cinematics) find themselves stuck at 720p, even though our final files would be well below the 200 MB limit.

The Proposal

Introduce a "Resolution / Bitrate Budget" system within the existing 200 MB file size limit.

Instead of a rigid restriction of "10 minutes at 720p", allow PRO users to choose how they want to "spend" those 200 MB. For example:

  • Option A (Standard): Up to 10 minutes at 720p (higher compression for longer runtimes).

  • Option B (High Quality): Up to 3–5 minutes at 1080p Full HD (optimized bitrate to fit perfectly within 200 MB).

  • Option C (Ultra Detail): Up to 1–2 minutes at 1440p (QHD) (perfect for showing off ultra-sharp textures, complex mesh details, and crisp photo-realistic SL moments).

Why this is Cost-Effective and Viable (Cost / Benefit Analysis):

  1. Zero Storage Impact (Server Cost = 0):

    • Because the strict 200 MB per-video cap does not change, the server will not store a single byte more than what is already allocated for a PRO account. No disk infrastructure upgrades are required.

  2. Massive Value Boost for PRO Membership:

    • Creators producing visually rich Second Life content can finally showcase the true fidelity of their work (advanced materials, fine particles, smooth animations) without harsh resolution bottlenecks.

  3. Natural Bandwidth Balancing:

    • Shorter, higher-resolution videos inherently have shorter playback times, balancing out user streaming bandwidth nicely compared to longer, compressed 720p files.

Conclusion

This is primarily an upload/encoding interface adjustment rather than a heavy infrastructure overhaul. Allowing us to "trade" duration minutes for higher resolutions (up to 1080p or QHD) under the same 200MB cap would vastly elevate the visual quality of Primfeed without straining platform resources.

Thank you for reading and for continually improving the platform!

Posted by Nil Lit ·
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Comments1

  • Nil Lit

    •

    Nov 12

    Technical Considerations & Solutions

    To make implementation even easier for the dev team, here is how the main technical points can be handled (just a vague idea):

    1. Transcoder / Encoding Rules (FFmpeg)

      • Concern: Updating the server’s automatic processing pipeline.

      • Solution: Replace the static "scale to 720p" script with a simple condition rule checking video duration (e.g., if duration $\le$ 3 min $\rightarrow$ allow 1080p/1440p output; if > 5 min $\rightarrow$ cap at 720p).

    2. Server CPU Usage During Conversion

      • Concern: Higher resolutions (1080p/1440p) take slightly more CPU power to process.

      • Solution: Because this is a PRO-exclusive feature, the volume of high-res uploads remains small and controlled, avoiding server queue bottlenecks.

    3. Bandwidth Spikes (CDN Streaming)

      • Concern: Higher bitrates deliver more data per second during playback.

      • Solution: Shorter clip durations mean overall player sessions remain lightweight, keeping bandwidth consumption balanced compared to playing a long 720p video.

    4. User Experience (UX)

      • Concern: Users uploading wrong resolution/duration combinations.

      • Solution: Set clear front-end guidelines on the upload form (e.g., "Videos up to 3 mins allow up to 1440p; up to 10 mins capped at 720p. Max 200MB.").

  • Linked to Request for Higher Video Upload Allowance