Why are download speeds so slow on this site now? I think server needs upgrade potentially?

I'll contact you via inbox to work with you on any issues. Our servers are running full speed right now and we aren't hitting any bandwidth limits or anything.

MM

I'm also suffering the same problem, downloads do not seem to be coming down at a reasonable speed. Furthermore, I'd prefer to stream the videos rather than save them to my Mac, but when you play them, you just get darkness and silence while the time ticks away.

Sites like YouTube / Netflix etc are not affected, so I don't think its my own internet connection. I ran a speed test and its pretty clear the FO is not failing me. See the attachments.
Look at those download times.

The thing to understand about major sites like YouTube and Netflix, they use what are called "Content Delivery Networks" (CDNs), global systems that cache content near to where the users are downloading it. When you watch a YouTube video the file you're being served is probably coming from no further away than the nearest speed test node, perhaps even closer, so you get the full speed of your broadband connection.

UMD on the other hand is a much smaller operation based entrirely within the US. The big global CDNs are expensive unless you're a major corporation.

I've always found that downloads are much faster if you keep to one at a time. When I do one of my big purchases I tend to download the scene I want to see first, first, on it's own. Then once it's down and I can watch it, I'll set all the others going together and leave them running in the background (usually overnight), coming back to restart any that have failed mid-download some hours later on.

But as someone who grew up on post-apocalyptic fiction I always want my own local copy of things, so I'll still have them when civilisation has collapsed and I'm surviving in a bunker with a latop powered by a dynamo on a stationary bike.

There are so many things other than internet speed that can affect playback. If it's a black screen, that's normally because the vid is encoded in H.265 which on-screen players usually can't play due to licensing issues. Those would need to be downloaded and played on something like VLC. If you bought such a scene and really would like to stream it during the 5-day purchase window, let me know and I can have UMD encode a temporary H.264 version that will stream for you.

Glitchy playback can also be caused by a video card that can't keep up, even if your internet speed is blazing. Please contact me directly and I'll always be available to work with you to find the issue.

Thanks for the response by the way DM1

Assuming your electronics survive the devastation of a massive electro magnetic pulse accompanying the nuclear missile strikes, that is. You'd basically need to live inside a faraday cage or better still, wrap everything in foil.

Thanks everyone for the replies and explanations. I won't complain further.