Drupal 6.26. Video 6.x-5.1. JW Player. SWF Tools.

Activated Amazon S3 and Zencoder sub-modules. Set up accounts with both S3 and Zencoder. Provided keys to the Video module.

SWF Tools module is installed. JW Player sub-module is installed. awssdk library is installed in sites/all/libraries, as are swfobject and mediaplayer5.

Placed video_scheduler.php in Drupal root. Drupal cron.php is placed there, too, and runs every 5 minutes through a server cron job. I checked the box to let Drupal cron run the video scheduler, etc. I do not have an additional cron job for video_scheduler.php. I cannot find any S3 cron file anywhere as mentioned in another support post.

The Zencoder sub-module did not create /postback/jobs, so I did that manually. Didn't help.

This is a multi-site Drupal installation. My website settings file is at sites/mywebsite.com/settings.php.

When I upload a video, it plays correctly through JW Player from the server file. But it does not upload to S3, and it does not get transcoded by Zencoder. Both AWS and Zencoder show no files, no activity, except that S3 logging does show a bunch of GET requests, etc. But no video files are uploaded.

When I manually run cron.php, no change. When I manually run video_scheduler.php, I get redirected to the Google search results for "default." Very, very weird.

When I manually run video_scheduler.php http://mywebsite.com, I get a 404.

It seems to me like this shouldn't be so difficult. I've read all the previous support requests that I can find. I can't figure out the problem.

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

Comments

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

Additional info:

I was originally placing uploads in a private folder outside the www root, but I have changed that and am now using /sites/mywebsite.com/files for files. The change didn't help.

zencodertv has full permissions on Amazon S3.

I have set the video module to serve files publicly.

jorrit’s picture

jorrit commented

Hi Jeff,

I am sorry to hear that you are having these difficulties. I will try to address your issues.

You can forget about video_scheduler.php when you use Drupal cron.

I don't understand why /postback/jobs wasn't created. What did you do to create it? The video zencoder module creates this menu link unconditionally, but you must realize that it is normal that you get a "Page not found" error. Only when Zencoder posts a callback there is a normal response.

Did you enable the "Enable video conversion" checkbox for your field? It is disabled by default. Unfortunately, CCK doesn't allow me to enable it when you create a new field.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

Oh, Good Lord. It was that simple? Jeez, I would have sworn that I checked that box, but I just looked and it wasn't checked.

Everything seems to be working now. Or, at least the files are getting converted and uploaded to S3. I haven't yet verified that they're serving from S3.

Many, many, thanks for your speedy and helpful reply. You're my hero.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

Just got "video not found or access denied" from JW player. I'll check into it and get back to you. Thanks.

jorrit’s picture

jorrit commented

I hope you can resolve that error. If you can post the link to the video I may be able to find out what's going on.

I will try to improve the module so other users will not have to pull their hair out because of this checkbox.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

I think maybe some improved documentation would do the trick. The existing stuff can be a bit confusing, especially when considering differences between different versions.

More Important: It turns out that my video node type won't hold the "enable video conversion" option as set. I set it, I come back for another look and it's un-set. I'll play with that and see what seems to be going on.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

It looks like the module is retaining the setting "enable video conversion," but is not showing the box as checked. Even though the box shows as not checked, the videos are converting. This is not optimal, of course--you can't tell whether the option is set or not, and I don't know how you would un-set it. I just checked, and when the option is set (but not showing the check mark) and I check it again, it does not toggle to un-set--it remains set. Or at least the next video is still converted. Very odd. Some sort of form checkbox issue.

Re the "file not found," the node is still looking for the original file in its original format, and it is looking in the "original" folder. It seems to be looking in the server folder, where the original file has been stripped down to just a few bytes and is no longer a working video. If it were looking in the S3 folder, it would find a working copy of the original. (The original is mp4, the transcoded versions are flv and mov.) I think I've seen issues like this (re the D7 version?), so I'll go look around.

Also, I'm not getting thumbnails.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented

All working correctly now. Footprints for those who follow:

To fix the "file not found": in content type/display fields, set the display type to Video. I had it set to SWF tools, which is where my JW Player is managed, but that's wrong. Video.

To fix the dreaded permanent "wait for file to convert" notice (I didn't even mention that I had hit that problem; it's discussed in several other issue posts), do not set the video to convert immediately upon saving the node (the setting appears in the video configuration settings and in the node settings). That works only for local conversion, and confuses Zencoder conversion. When you do not set to convert immediately, all works as expected.

When you use Zencoder, thumbnails will appear only after the video has been converted. So you must save the video, wait a couple of minutes for conversion and upload to S3, then a thumbnail will appear. If you want to change the thumbnail, return and edit the video node--a selection of thumbnails will appear.

The "enable video conversion" checkbox is still funky.

gjmokcb’s picture

gjmokcb commented
Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

Changing status to closed (fixed) because I'm good, though a couple of suggestions to the (very responsive) jorrit remain. Thank you, Jorrit.

jorrit’s picture

jorrit commented

I fixed the "Enable video conversion" checkbox, see #1660264: Video conversion checkbox value is not saved. Can you try that fix? A new 6.x-5.x-dev version will be built within 12 hours. I have also added a message to the node form when the checkbox is disabled.

jorrit’s picture

jorrit commented
Issue summary: View changes

added info re postback/jobs folder.