1. Problem - General knowlege

(This part may not be included in the final paper.)

ViiKii

Source: http://canarytrap.net/tag/fansubbing/
ViiKii.net is a collaborative translation and subtitling platform for streaming video that distributes that tasks of translating television shows and other media from around the world across an entire community of users.
The way Viikii.net works is that people can register for the site and contribute to subtitling uploaded video files in over 200 languages, line by line. Currently you can publish any video that is already on YouTube. (Link)Users can also edit and revise each other’s translations, refine the timing of the subtitles, or upload new files and put in requests for translations.

Source: http://www.viikii.net/inboxes/listing/mithrakrishprem/1
The subs on Viikii are "soft subs" meaning the subtitles are not attached to the video - so the video is coming from one source such as YouTube or Myspace or the original broadcaster's website and the subtitles are coming from the Viikii server so you can't download subtitles with the video.

Soft subs

Source: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_59952.htm
Soft subs are subtitles that are distributed SEPARATE from the video file. They come as a text file, using extensions like .SUB, .SRT, etc. The reason for the different extensions is that there are different formats used for soft subs.
The purpose of soft subs is so that a single video file (referred to as the RAW file) can be distributed all over the world. Then the viewer can pick & choose which language he would like to view the subtitles in. With the correct media player or an auxiliary program, softsubs are superimposed on the footage and appear indistinguishable from hardsubs. (Link) Hard subs are subtitles that are rendered into the video itself.

Schedule (constantly updated)

-Recess week Mar 1-7: emailed Google and ViiKii teams for related questions

1. http://www.google.com/support/forum/user?hl=en&userid=16673645549147131133
3/6/10

"I can play newly released drama with subtitles from ViiKii with the ViiKii plug-in. It is not possible otherwise during the first few days, with the reason given as "Because of many simultaneous requests, YouTube is temporarily limiting access now". Raw videos can still be played from YouTube with no subtitles.

Why is YouTube limiting requests from ViiKii?"

2. http://blog.viikii.net/#comment-1602
March 6, 2010 at 7:20 am

"I am doing a project on Cloud computing with the application for YouTube. I can see that there is sometimes access problems with YouTube-sourced. However, I have installed the ViiKii plug-in and get away with it.

I would like to know more about how the plug-in actually solves the problem and how stable it is from your experience if possible."

-Fri 12 Mar 2010: seek help from Mr. Harish if Google has not answered.
-Tue 23 Mar 2010: pending for Google's answer, most likely have to make some guesses on the case
-Tue 30 Mar 2010: group meeting to finalize what to write in the report
-Tue 6 Apr 2010: presentation (10') by each member + Q&A (5'). Report to be submitted by sending link to Mr. Harish.

3. Discussion

-Based on heynubcake's comment (Link), we can include the discussion of a solution using "web of trust" as a result of "key signing parties" to validate users from ViiKii.

(TBU)

2. Solution - ViiKii Plug-in

Description
This is an entry on the ViiKii desktop plug-in.
(Source: http://blog.viikii.net/viikii-desktop-plugin/)
"As we mentioned in ViiKii topic #723, many of you have suffered problem with YouTube-sourced videos.

Finally, today we release a plug-in that enables you to watch YouTube-sourced videos without problems. So, if you have problem watching YouTube-sourced videos, please install our ViiKii Desktop Plug-in by clicking this link.

Users of 3rd party sites that use our embeddable player (like dramaXX.com, dramaYY.com, etc) are also able to watch videos on the 3rd party site without coming to ViiKii.net as long as they install this plug-in.

# This plug-in is to resolve problems with YouTube-sourced videos and has nothing to do with our peak-time limitation or broken links.

How does it work to solve the problem?

1. Problem - Explanations

(TBU)

1. Problem - Overview

Newly released episodes of dramas cannot be viewed with subtitles from ViiKii during the first few days, with reason being “Because of many simultaneous requests, YouTube is temporarily limiting access now”. (Figure)

[Notice] Problem with YouTube-sourced videos

Source: http://www.viikii.net/channels/goto/viikiihelp#TOPIC/723

6 months ago - "YouTube-sourced videos are suffering from instability because YouTube is restricting our access from time to time because there are too many requests from the same source (our servers)."

YouTube is using cloud computer facilities to increase the online rate of its resources. (2009 Horizon Report) The raw video can still be viewed directly on YouTube (with no subtitles), which means the total traffic request has not reached YouTube’s limit.

The study strives to answer the following questions:

-Does the fact that the raw video can still be accessed mean cloud computing is not at its limit?

-Why does YouTube need to limit requests from a single server, i.e. ViiKii?

-How does YouTube limit access? i.e. whether it happens everywhere at the same time or in certain places at certain time?

-Is it limited to YouTube as a video sharing site alone?

-Is it limited to ViiKii as a fansubbing site alone?

Project Outlines

1. Problem

Overview

Explanation(s)

General knowledge (Is this necessary?)

• Cloud computing
• YouTube
• ViiKii – a YouTube of translated videos

2. Solution

ViiKii Plug-in

2. Discussion