Gobbler Issues

[digidub]

Hey all, I switched over to Gobbler as my main means of delivering files to clients via the web.

The upload and download speeds are pretty amazing, but there a couple very frustrating issues that I've been experiencing that are on the verge of being dealbreakers for me. I was wondering if anyone has experienced these issues and have potential work arounds, or know of another client service that's potentially as fast and much more reliable (aspera is more reliable in my experience, but not as fast).

First, clients regularly complain they they cannot download files from the links I send them. Either the window is stuck at "Please wait while your download is prepared" or there is a window to the effect of Sorry, please try again later. I'd say this happens about 25% of the time with my uploads. Sometimes I ask them to try the link several times, which works rarely, but either way I really shouldn't have to do that. It's really disappointing to get these comments. Never have these issues with Wetransfer, etc, but upload times are much slower.

The other issue is stalled uploads. Usually it's a "server returned nothing" error. I wish I took screenshots for everytime something like this has occurred. I find that quitting out, and restarting helps, but on a couple occasions, clients say that the download just stalls during the process. Plus it's a bummer when I had hoped to upload large files overnight only to return in the morning and only 10% of it is finished.

Anyway, these issues seem to happen more and more often these days, not sure if it's something with the service, or the fact that I've become very frequent user of it.

[digidub]

I'll add that that client complaints most often come from links that I have copy/pasted or forwarded.

[minister]

I have been experiencing the same issues. I was mixing a film and the composer sent EACH of the 55 Cues as separate Gobbler links. over 50% of them gave me the same problem your clients are having. Mostly what I got was "That file does not exist". So I would contact him and he said that he could download them. I would try again, and then most of them would suddenly work, and a few recalcitrant ones would not work. So I would try those later, and more would work. A couple he had to upload again. It was a pain, especially because he refused to make one batch of it all and was exporting from his timeline.

Thankfully, I have a different method for sending jobs to my clients.

As a user, I have been experiencing continual "updates" to a file that had already uploaded. I have experienced disconnections.

[spoons]

I use Gobbler daily and as you said it's very quick.
I've never had a client end problem, that seems to work fine every time for me. I mostly send public links via gobbler, never copy/pasting a link though.

I do get stalled uploads, it generally gets stuck on 'preparing' if it does. I have never worked out why except that you need to have Gobbler running all the time on your computer. If you start it up and try and send straight away it sits there for ages as it scans your system.

I must say that Gobbler support is very good and they get back to me very quickly. Being able to send unlimited amounts of massive sessions or folders of files for $4 a month is pretty good too ..

[digidub]

Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, Gobbler support is generally fast, when I brought up the issue of ppl's inability to download files, Gobbler support gave me the "no problem downloading here" answer. Like Minister said, it's wonky. Sometimes after several attempts someone will get lucky.

I was trying to send reels to a stage a few weeks ago, and 4 of the 5 reels worked fine, but R2 just kept failing. Two weeks ago, a production company and Dolby was unable to download DCP mixes via Gobbler, so I wound up using Dolby's upload service. Took longer, but no hiccups. Today, I sent an ADR studio a ref QT, and after an hour of "Please wait while your download is prepared..." I had to re-upload the QT, and this time the engineer was able to DL successfully.

I totally agree that Gobbler is an incredible service when everything is running as expected. It's just that the headaches of uploading files and clients random inability to download in time sensitive situations is annoying.

Maybe it's best only for between users who have Gobbler clients on both ends (though that doesn't solve the upload error issues)

[Sonopolis]

Your clients should definitely use the Gobbler software with a free account if they are having problems downloading large files as ZIPs, that's what the software is made for. It's faster and much more stable.

[spoons]

Originally Posted by digidub

I was trying to send reels to a stage a few weeks ago, and 4 of the 5 reels worked fine, but R2 just kept failing. Two weeks ago, a production company and Dolby was unable to download DCP mixes via Gobbler, so I wound up using Dolby's upload service. Took longer, but no hiccups. Today, I sent an ADR studio a ref QT, and after an hour of "Please wait while your download is prepared..." I had to re-upload the QT, and this time the engineer was able to DL successfully.

It doesn't really solve your problem but if you back-up your sessions to the cloud using Gobbler when you start them, when you come to send them, Gobbler will send them instantly without uploading again. As I said, i've never had a problem client end though. May be it's a browser problem?

[digidub]

Yea, Gobbler runs much better between clients. I doubt that all the producers, directors, houses, etc I work with would all be into having me ask them to sign up, download installers, and so on. They just like to click, download what they need, and use. If that's the only solution, I'll probably have to use another service for sending files. Lot of people like wetransfer b/c of ease of uploading and downloading. I would switch to that, except that upload times are significantly slower. Aspera is nice as well.

I don't really send work sessions to clients, it's more of deliverables that's I'm referring to. I don't have problems b/t myself and editors who also have Gobbler.

[minister]

Originally Posted by digidub

Lot of people like wetransfer b/c of ease of uploading and downloading. I would switch to that, except that upload times are significantly slower. Aspera is nice as well.

I don't really send work sessions to clients, it's more of deliverables that's I'm referring to. I don't have problems b/t myself and editors who also have Gobbler.

The last couple of years I have been using Rumpus FTP which turns one of my computers into an FTP server. If you have a fast internet connection with lots of bandwidth, the files are ready for your clients as quickly as you can copy computer to computer on your LAN. You can setup clients with a Web interface they can log into with any browser, or give them direct links, or FTP client software.

For now, I only use Gobbler for backing up my jobs. If I was collaborating with another studio on a job who had Gobbler, maybe I would use it for that. Doesn't seem like a good solution for "non-techy" clients so far to me.

[cjguitar]

I use Gobbler for backing up occasionally, but like you I've had issues sending files, and even sometimes the uploads are slow. I've had the "Please wait while your download is prepared" issue you've seen, so I've pretty much given up on Gobbler for sending files. Right now I'm using Hightail, and they are extremely fast and with the Professional account, they allow uploads of 10Gig files, with unlimited storage.