Life in Galicia
Galicia life and experiences as seen from Mer near Sober

Software

Usefull bits of software we found helpfull in running this site, our businesses or just plain fun

Telefonica – 6MB but one has to ask….

Telefonica, well love’m or hate’m depends largly on your experience.

The latest:

If you are one of those who actually can get broadband and may have done so in the past you’ll be delighted to know that now the DUA (or Trio) deal encompasses a 6MB link.

You may expect Telefonicas ADSL or “customer service” team to phone you and tell you about this. Ohhhh noooo!

Another “con” highlighted by some Telefonica users prompted me to trawl through their site, to check if I’m getting value for money.
There it is the usual offer 3 month cheap ,than full whack 40,90 Euro for DUO 6MB and all national calls.

So I phoned 1004 and selected castilian (Galego still a bit beyond me) and, when asked by the automated system why I bother to call them, used my best Spanish accent to say ADSLe.

After a series of clicks and phases of being subjected to advanced caterwauling (music?) I got a very nice lady.

She seemd to have all my details in front of her because when I said its about DUA ADSL and it’s now at 6MB could I please have this, she said ah you’re on 3MB at 40,90 and yes, why not.

Humor, here is something I still haven’t fathomed. When I confirmed that I have my own functioning router rather than one from telefonica it did not elict a laugh….

After further furious keystrokes she confirmed that the switch will be updated within 72 hours and I would get my 6MB.

Do I want digital TV at a 5er? No – thank you. Do I want a mobile phone? No – thank you. OK so in 72 hours thou shall have 6Mb!

Great, If one doesn’t ask here in Spain one won’t get!

 

Oh – The other “scam”

Check your bill, you may find 3 Euro emergency service on it. It’s something they invented. When one asks, yes, its to insure your telefoneline is reconnected in 12 hours should it fail. OK, so how long does it take normally? Oh about 8-12 hours . OK, so I don’t want this can you take it off and not bill it in the future? Oh, yes since you asked we’ll take last month off and won’t bill for it in the future.

There you go – Learn to complain – or you pay!

Expat

 

PS We happen to have the number of the local guy who looks after the switch – It’s faster than 1004!

 

e have access to the local guy who looks after the exchange just in case.

Quick video from stills – for free – no problem – just the presentation lacks

Have to admit I usually don’t get exited about new web-services, BUT this one

Animoto 

It does what it says on the tin. Log in – upload 10-12 photos – select music – go have a cup of tea / coffee and hey presto a nice little animated video which you can download or upload to Google video or YouTube is ready.

If you don’t like it – remix it. They are useful and presentable.

Yes, only 30 seconds are free but to make longer ones its 3$ a shot or 30$ for unlimited / year.

[HTML1]

To get to this one you need a bit more than just Animoto. So here comes the fun bit. The videos are great but if you upload these to Google or YouTube (which is now owned by G anyway) the original mp4 is transferred into flash and looses quality. Also Animoto is produced in 16:9 whereas YT / G do 4:3 format. Than the original video starts on a black background. So once it’s played it rewinds to the black start (boring) or a start picture you can’t influence (G video). You can download Animoto but it’s MP4 format. If, like me, you happen to have your own server(s) and want to be a bit different or more to the point independent what to do? How to prep it up a bit? How to run it in a flash player that is not bulk standard?

The difference between MP4 and FLV (Flash streaming) format in high quality is not much. Thus you can, like I did, convert into FLV and edit, or do it straight in MP4.
 

Unfortunately, hunting for the right tools may leave you frustrated. Here is a quick guide to get on with it with the least amount of fuzz.

Converting and cutting:

After lots of trials and problems I ended up downloading Avidemux. This allows conversion and/or cutting of video formats. Thus I cut the start to the first picture and curtailed the end.

Flash player and added functionality

I wasn’t impressed by the quality of YT / G and I don’t like the vanilla Macromedia flash player. I wanted my own and my own skins and extended controls. Sometimes you want a video to auto-start sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you want all controls, sometimes you don’t.

Finally I found Flowplayer. It’s open software and highly customizable. Best of all it does a seamless playlist. So if you have two or more videos – it will play them seamlessly. To get a nice start picture just add a suitable JPG or PNG to the playlist, Be aware if you don’t do auto-start you will have to give these stills a time.

On our House for rent page you can see the result of my trials or just run the one on this page.

Or you could just head to the guys at Toufee and generate some small vids on line, than play it all together with flowplayer on your site. It looks easy but it is  a very powerful on-line software.

They also provide software so you can generate your own skins, but the standard ones are pretty good.

This should get you started nicely.

 Expat

It helps to buy a telefone line with a house attached

I’ve read  a a lot about problems with Telefonica and telephones not to speak Internet in Spain.

Maybe I’m lucky or maybe this is Galicia or it may have helped that we bought a telephone line with an actual house attached.

I asked the agent to help us get a connection and that I would like ADSL as well.

She wasn’t to sure. A quick check on Telefonicas system (when you eventually find the page / disponibilidad) revealed that although the hamlet I’m moving to only has 8 inhabitants one can have ADSL!

So I started by ordering a telephone line over the Internet.

I received a call in the UK from a fellow who spoke very clear Spanish and although my vocabulary was not yet up to anything useful beyond ordering food it expired that the line would be installed.

When we arrived we found a new working phone.

A day later a very nice guy from Telefonica showed up and gave me a standard router “GRATIS” and said it’s all connected. If I need any changes he gave me his number so I can either use Telefonica or a more direct way.

Woaa, I plugged the router in. Loaded the CD. Installed a bit of software. Plugged my Laptop in and bingo the Internet was there.

I had a Dlink G604 wireless router and some Diverse DECT BT / Siemens phones in the car.

So after rigging the connection e.g. splicing the cable red/green to red/white the DECT phones worked. Which is great as the phone point is in a room not yet heated.

The DLink even when loading Spanish firmware refused to connect to ADSL so I simply plugged the Telefonica router into the DLink moved the Dlink to 192.168.2.1 and told my Laptops to go to 192.168.1.1 for whatever they desire. I had no more problems.

The connection is a wee bit shaky but starting to bed in and I now don’t have to restart the Telefonica router when the ADSL fails (about twice a day) it has now learned that I’m persistent so it does it itself.

So buying a telephone line with a suitable house attached seems to have paid off.

Expat

Update 2009/04 – I now have 6Mb allowing me download speeds of up to 1Mb/s and streaming media.

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