diff --git a/trunk/config/backend.xml b/trunk/config/backend.xml
index 3026afd..ffa05a3 100644
--- a/trunk/config/backend.xml
+++ b/trunk/config/backend.xml
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
     
     <string id="url_root">http://localhost</string><!-- MUST NOT end with trailing slash -->
     
-    <string id="path_root">/var/www/yolanda/</string><!-- MUST end with trailing slash -->
-    
     <!-- general page settings -->
     <string id="page_locale">en-us</string>
     <string id="page_xslt">xhtml.xsl</string>
@@ -25,12 +23,13 @@
     <string id="page_cookie_name">sid</string>
     
     <!-- settings for video uploads -->
-    <string id="video_height_max">720</string><!-- in pixels -->
+    <string id="video_height_max">720</string><!-- in pixels - MUST be multiple of 8 -->
     <string id="video_height_min">240</string>
     <string id="video_width_max">1080</string>
     <string id="video_width_min">320</string>
     <string id="video_filesize_max">204800</string><!-- in bytes -->
     <string id="video_filesize_min">512</string>
+    <string id="video_bitrate_max">6000</string>
     <string id="video_audio_bitrate">64</string>
     
     <!-- settings for xml output -->
diff --git a/trunk/download.pl b/trunk/download.pl
index 7c55bd2..42604ea 100644
--- a/trunk/download.pl
+++ b/trunk/download.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/include.pl b/trunk/include.pl
index bb12203..3e492a4 100644
--- a/trunk/include.pl
+++ b/trunk/include.pl
@@ -22,8 +22,5 @@ $config = XMLin("$root/config/backend.xml", KeyAttr => {string => 'id'}, ForceAr
 $config = $config->{"strings"}->{"string"};
 #set global variables
 
-$session_name = 'sid';
-$locale = "en-US";
-
 $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:".$config->{"database_name"}.":".$config->{"database_host"}, $config->{"database_username"}, $config->{"database_password"}) or die $DBI::errstr;
 1;
diff --git a/trunk/index.pl b/trunk/index.pl
index 43dfdb2..3f8a6cc 100644
--- a/trunk/index.pl
+++ b/trunk/index.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #create or resume session
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/init_sql.pl b/trunk/init_sql.pl
index f1f3f8a..1eaf2f1 100644
--- a/trunk/init_sql.pl
+++ b/trunk/init_sql.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "include.pl";
 
 #create or resume session
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 my $session = new CGI::Session;
 
 $dbh->do(qq{drop table config});
diff --git a/trunk/login.pl b/trunk/login.pl
index cca542b..0bd3c68 100644
--- a/trunk/login.pl
+++ b/trunk/login.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/register.pl b/trunk/register.pl
index 7add87b..86d933f 100644
--- a/trunk/register.pl
+++ b/trunk/register.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/search.pl b/trunk/search.pl
index e299816..7087943 100644
--- a/trunk/search.pl
+++ b/trunk/search.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/settings.pl b/trunk/settings.pl
index c935391..ee28ff6 100644
--- a/trunk/settings.pl
+++ b/trunk/settings.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/tools/daemon.pl b/trunk/tools/daemon.pl
index bdaeff9..9cc8ccd 100755
--- a/trunk/tools/daemon.pl
+++ b/trunk/tools/daemon.pl
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@ use Proc::Daemon;
 use DBI;
 use Digest::SHA;
 use File::Copy;
+use XML::Simple qw(:strict);
 
-#TODO: put this into central configuration file
-$database = 'yolanda';
-$dbhost = 'localhost';
-$dbuser = 'root';
-$dbpass = '';
 $root = '/var/www/yolanda';
 
+#set global config variable
+$config = XMLin("$root/config/backend.xml", KeyAttr => {string => 'id'}, ForceArray => [ 'string' ], ContentKey => '-content');
+$config = $config->{"strings"}->{"string"};
+
 #TODO: deamonize by uncommenting this line
 #Proc::Daemon::Init;
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ sub interrupt
     die;
 }
 
-$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:$dbhost", $dbuser, $dbpass) or interrupt "could not connect to db";
+$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:".$config->{"database_name"}.":".$config->{"database_host"}, $config->{"database_username"}, $config->{"database_password"}) or die $DBI::errstr;
 
 while(1)
 {
@@ -51,21 +51,26 @@ while(1)
     
     if($id)
     {
-        $vmaxheight = 640;
-        
         #video height is either the maximum video height
         #or (when the original is smaller than that) the original height
         #check for multiple by 8
-        $vheight = $vmaxheight <= $height ? $vmaxheight : int($height/8 + .5)*8;
+        $vheight = $height <= $config->{"video_height_max"} ? int($height/8 + .5)*8 : $config->{"video_height_max"};
         $vwidth = int($vheight*($width/$height)/8 + .5)*8;
         
-        $abitrate = 64;
-        $vbitrate = int((int(($filesize*8) / $duration + .5) - $abitrate)/1000);
-        #check if the bitrate is lower than 16000 (maximum for ffmpeg)
-        $vbitrate = $vbitrate <= 16000 ? $vbitrate : 16000;
+        #if calculated width is greater than max_width, recalculate height
+        if($vwidth > $config->{"video_width_max"})
+        {
+            $vwidth = $config->{"video_width_max"};
+            $vheight = int($vwidth*($height/$width)/8 + .5)*8;
+        }
+        
+        #calculate video bitrate - try to keep the original filesize
+        $vbitrate = int((int(($filesize*8) / $duration + .5) - $config->{"video_audio_bitrate"})/1000);
+        #check if the bitrate is lower than $config->{"video_bitrate_max"} and adjust if necessary
+        $vbitrate = $vbitrate <= $config->{"video_bitrate_max"} ? $vbitrate : $config->{"video_bitrate_max"};
         
         #TODO: add metadata information
-        $ffmpeg = system "ffmpeg2theora --optimize --videobitrate $vbitrate --audiobitrate $abitrate --sharpness 0 --width $vwidth --height $vheight --output $root/videos/$id /tmp/$id";
+        $ffmpeg = system "ffmpeg2theora --optimize --videobitrate $vbitrate --audiobitrate ".$config->{"video_audio_bitrate"}." --sharpness 0 --width $vwidth --height $vheight --output $root/videos/$id /tmp/$id";
         
         appendlog $id, $vbitrate, $filesize, $vwidth, $vheight, $fps, $duration, $sha, $ffmpeg;
         
diff --git a/trunk/tools/tagcloud.pl b/trunk/tools/tagcloud.pl
index 367b719..c4d14a2 100755
--- a/trunk/tools/tagcloud.pl
+++ b/trunk/tools/tagcloud.pl
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
 
 use DBI;
+use XML::Simple qw(:strict);
 
-$database = 'yolanda';
-$dbhost = 'localhost';
-$dbuser = 'root';
-$dbpass = '';
+$root = '/var/www/yolanda';
 
-$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:$dbhost", $dbuser, $dbpass);
+#set global config variable
+$config = XMLin("$root/config/backend.xml", KeyAttr => {string => 'id'}, ForceArray => [ 'string' ], ContentKey => '-content');
+$config = $config->{"strings"}->{"string"};
+
+$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:".$config->{"database_name"}.":".$config->{"database_host"}, $config->{"database_username"}, $config->{"database_password"}) or die $DBI::errstr;
 
 $sth = $dbh->prepare("select subject from videos");
 $sth->execute();
@@ -20,7 +22,7 @@ while(($subject) = $sth->fetchrow_array())
     {
         #strip whitespaces
         $val =~ s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
-        if(length($val) >= 3)
+        if(length($val) >= $config->{"page_tag_lenght_min"})
         {
             %hash->{$val}++;
         }
@@ -33,8 +35,8 @@ $sth->finish();
 
 $dbh->do("delete from tagcloud");
 $sth = $dbh->prepare("insert into tagcloud (text, count) values (?, ?)");
-#insert first 20 tags into tagcloud table
-for($i=0;$i<20 and $i<=$#sorted;$i++)
+#insert  tags into tagcloud table
+for($i=0;$i<$config->{"page_tag_count"} and $i<=$#sorted;$i++)
 {
     $sth->execute( $sorted[$i], %hash->{$sorted[$i]} );
 }
diff --git a/trunk/upload.pl b/trunk/upload.pl
index dca997c..82e75e7 100644
--- a/trunk/upload.pl
+++ b/trunk/upload.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #create or resume session
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/uploader.pl b/trunk/uploader.pl
index 8aba2af..3f7f65c 100644
--- a/trunk/uploader.pl
+++ b/trunk/uploader.pl
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = CGI->new(\&hook);
 $session = new CGI::Session;
 
diff --git a/trunk/video.pl b/trunk/video.pl
index de8cecf..b4dee3d 100644
--- a/trunk/video.pl
+++ b/trunk/video.pl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require "functions.pl";
 
 #initialize session data
-CGI::Session->name($session_name);
+CGI::Session->name($config->{"page_cookie_name"});
 $query = new CGI;
 $session = new CGI::Session;