• DVD is more popular than VCD and more people are likely to have DVD players than VCD players
• DVDs use mpeg2 encoding providing a higher quality and more compressed file than the mpeg1 encoding used by VCDs
• No need to ask the user to select VCD or DVD

The Burnstation prototype will take video files that have been mpeg2 encoded by the transcode daemon (as normal), convert them to VOBs and then produce a DVD ISO file using the tovid utility.

The restriction to solely produce DVD format discs will also need to be reassessed. Research is required to determine whether the VCD platform is still common in Indonesia and other parts of Asia or whether it has been replaced by DVD players and is no longer required.

Derived from the concept behind the original audio based Burnstation that provides disc burning systems in public places, the intention of this Plumi module is to facilitate distribution of video content to areas where Internet connections may not support streaming video online, or provide additional distribution options.

The Burnstation module will allow someone using a Plumi based system to select a list of videos and burn them to a DVD. At first we are producing a prototype system that will demonstrate the feasibility of taking a selection of Plumi hosted videos and producing an ISO format DVD image that can be burnt to disc using any standard disc production software. While the prototype will perform the bare minimum functions required, the final version will include a streamlined interface, total disc size checking and more.

We will produce further blog entries about the Burnstation project to capture the decisions we make during design & implementation of the prototype. Watch this space!

You can download Plumi 3.1 as a compressed tar file from Plone.org or via SVN.

Plumi 3.1 features the following improvements:

• Rebuilt the transcoding engine to fix a variety of issues encountered in the version released with Plumi 3
• Upgraded to the latest version of FlowPlayer
• Translated the /publish page into Indonesian
• Videos should appear in listings based on date of first publication
• Users look up for non-logged in users returns no results
• Redesign the Callout template
• Create new “Featured” state for workflow
• Videos triggering retranscode after editing metadata
• Add ability to feature a call out
• Callouts items should be removed from the front page once the due date is up
• Member video’s RSS feed needs a filter like RSS2 feed does
• Add “processing” state to workflow with listing
• Add callout portlet to right nav
• Enlarge size of download links in video/view page
• “Read more” link on featured news/events
• Change date stamp in video listings to be the “effective date”
• Front page RSS feed links to random front page content
• Replaced custom transcode daemon integration with collective.transcode.star

If you’d like to get involved in Plumi development please make contact at irc.freenode.net #plumi or join the discussion or announcement lists.

A working version of Plumi 3.1 can be seen at http://engagemedia.org and http://demo.plumi.org

Thanks to the developers, testers and coordinators who made this release possible!

• download the release in a tar file from http://plone.org/products/plumi/releases/3.1-Beta2
• access the release via SVN at https://svn.plone.org/svn/collective/plumi.buildout/tags/3.1b2/
• see Plumi 3.1 in action at demo.plumi.org

In addition to featuring a refactored TranscodeDaemon and the latest version of FlowPlayer, a number of other changes have been made. You can find a list of all changes in the Change Log section of the release information on Plone.org.

Send an email to the plumi-discuss list or post a message in #plumi to let us know how you go installing & using the Plumi 3.1 beta.

To better understand what you know about EngageMedia and Plumi and the services you use, or don’t use, we have designed a survey that will help us build a strategic plan to better suit our constituent’s needs and improve public engagement around the critical issues of our time. We’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions around what we do best and what we have yet to do.

We invite you and / or your organisation to participate in our strategic planning survey, which we have designed to be as elegant and time-conscious as possible to contribute to.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/engagemedia-survey

The survey closes on Friday, 6 August.

The new release can be downloaded at http://plone.org/products/plumi/releases/3.0-Final or via svn at https://svn.plone.org/svn/collective/plumi.buildout/tags/3.0/

Accompanying the release is also an extensive user, administrator and developer manual, available both in English and Indonesian.

Plumi 3.0 includes the following enhancements on top of the already existing Plone and Plumi functionality.

• upgraded to latest Plone stable release – 3.3.5
• auto-creation of thumbnail image from uploaded video
• large file uploads – integrated FTP support
• Ogg transcoded version for download or playing in the browser
• html5 support
• Built in blob support to improve large file handling
• New, more stable and configurable transcoding framework (Transcode Daemon)
• Updated flowplayer
• Auto extraction of video duration
• Number of videos in each listing now displayed
• Ability to look up other user interested same topic areas
• Indonesian translation of Plumi and Plone interface
• Built in content translation via LinguaPlone
• Ability to rate content
• Increased flash player size and quality
• Ability to add related items, location information and language when publishing a video
• Auto-notifications on retraction or rejection of content
• New cleaner design
• Date of release now goes back to 1960
• All earthly countries are now included in taxonomy by default
• Ajaxification of commenting including profile thumbnails associated with comments

If you’d like to get involved in Plumi development please make contact at irc.freenode.net #plumi or join the discussion or announcement lists.

A working version of Plumi 3.0 can be seen at http://engagemedia.org and http://demo.plumi.org

Thanks to all the developers, testers and coordinators who made this much awaited release possible!

http://plone.org/products/plumi/releases/3.0-RC3

The RC2 can be found here – http://plone.org/products/plumi/releases/3.0-RC2. If you are interested in the project and have a moment to test this and provide feedback it’d be most appreciated.

The three day camp will continue EngageMedia’s work of setting up 4 Plumi based offline video archives with a series of arts/activist partners based in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. [Read background blog post]

We have space at the camp for 2 additional volunteer Ploneistas. A key focus of the camp will be upgrading the four archives to Plumi 3.0, as well as running various workshops with local technologists to enhance their ability to customise of the platform. You’ll be working with EngageMedia and the crew from Unweb as regards the workshops. A more detailed breakdown of the event can be found in this pdf.

We can cover all food and accommodation in the lovely surrounds of central Java during the event if you are able to pay your way to Indonesia. If you are interested in attending please contact Andrew at and@engagemedia.org by March 15th.

Albany Senior High School is currently in discussions with other schools and will probably expand access to the site into other schools.