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Author Topic: Looking Forward to Future LLVJ Downloads  (Read 43122 times)

Rainman

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« Reply #40 on: March 30, 2007, 09:46:06 pm »

Quote
I for one am not interested in downloadable videos. I prefer the physical DVD. If this is the direction that LLVJ is going, then I'll have to reconsider my subscription.

Respectfully,

Mike Boden
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109293\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Add my voice and vote to not do away with the DVD's.  

Have you considered how many of your subscribers do not have broad band service?  Do you know how long it will take to download a DVD at 24k download speed over a modem?  You are not offering an alternative for those who do not live in the big cities and are suffering with arrogant monopoly communications companies that will not extend their services past the big city limits.  

I will not take the penalty for your not wanting to honor your obligation as stated when you offered and I subscribed to your Video Journals.  You stated they would be mailed on DVD and in a format to be played in a common DVD player.  No mention was made of any change and no escape clause for you to back out of what you stated as the means of delivery.  

I expect to receive my entire previously paid subscription in the form that I had paid for.  Times are tough for all.  Suck it up and deliver what you promised when you offered the subscriptions.

A very disappointed and it appears to be former subscriber

Timothy True
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michael

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« Reply #41 on: March 30, 2007, 11:14:33 pm »

Rainman,

You will either get all of your DVDs as promised or a full refund for any unused portion, if this is warrented. No need to get snooty. No one here is going to rip you off.

But, we have to be realistic about our business case, and with the huge increase in mailing costs and extraordinary delays which mail is now encounterrring, postal distribution is ceasing to be a viable alternative.

So, as the saying goes – we're sucking it up, and finding it wanting.

Michael
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DarkPenguin

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« Reply #42 on: March 30, 2007, 11:15:33 pm »

I don't think this impacts existing subscriptions.  You just won't be able to renew one in the DVD format.
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marcfs

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« Reply #43 on: March 30, 2007, 11:53:13 pm »

Michael,

It’s clear that there are significant challenges to the existing LLVJ model.

Questions and thoughts:

1.   Is it feasible to offer LLVJ via download and DVD at prices that make the model work?  i.e. raise the price of the DVD.  As technology improves the price/value relationship of the delivery vehicle will eventually drive consumers to the download.
2.   Will subscribers have access to the older LLVJ segments (segments that are subscribed to during a given subscription period)?
3.   Would you consider offering DVD’s to geographies where postal service is acceptable?
4.   Can you expand DVD production to additional countries to minimize shipping, security issues, etc?

Is any of this helpful or are all of these points just a pain in the ... and the issue is closed?

Marc Schoenholz
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reyn_two

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« Reply #44 on: March 31, 2007, 08:06:28 am »

Michael,
I have been a very satisfied subscriber to LLVJ, my wife who is not really into  photography enjoys them as much as I do especially the scenes from foreign parts.
It is a shame that we will not be able to watch them on the TV together in future, I don't think sitting on a couple of chairs around a computer monitor gives the same pleasure.
I will not be converting my upcoming subsciption to download unless forced to, but when this subscription runs out I will still subscibe to the download if the quality of content remains as high as it has been so far.
If you and Chris could come up with a downloadable image I could transfer to Dvd that would be the best option for me (and my wife). After all people are downloading movies all the time. Anyway you and your team have given us both a lot of enjoyment so far and I'm sure with your teams talent you will come up with something worthy of the content.
Thank You
Frank
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lbergman

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« Reply #45 on: March 31, 2007, 09:48:12 am »

Just to throw the idea out there (if it hasn't already been):

I wonder if there would be an option to have a duplicator receive the DVD ISO via download (crossing international boarders), burn it and mail it out to all subscribers in it's own country. I'll guess this would likely only be feasible in countries where there is a large enough subscriber base (like the US). But this would avoid the mailing delay as the shipment would take place entirely within the same country and not cross any international boarders.
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Jay Kaplan

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« Reply #46 on: March 31, 2007, 10:08:26 am »

Quote
Just to throw the idea out there (if it hasn't already been):

I wonder if there would be an option to have a duplicator receive the DVD ISO via download (crossing international boarders), burn it and mail it out to all subscribers in it's own country. I'll guess this would likely only be feasible in countries where there is a large enough subscriber base (like the US). But this would avoid the mailing delay as the shipment would take place entirely within the same country and not cross any international boarders.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109862\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Excellent idea. Count me in.

Jake
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Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #47 on: March 31, 2007, 12:39:48 pm »

Quote
Are Mpeg4 files completely out of the question?  Advantages are seamless playback on your chosen platform's "native" viewer, in addition - streaming the videos across my home network to my livingroom becomes easily possible, regardless of my "current" media server and/or client.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109261\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
The next HiRes files will be .mp4 not .mov. Same codec (H.264) same resolution but a marginally different container. Some viewers suffer due to a Mac-centric producer  
Chris S

Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #48 on: March 31, 2007, 12:46:55 pm »

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I ordered an Apple TV device - I will install it Saturday. That will stream the hi-rez files to my HDTV.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Well - almost Bob but not quite. I installed mine yesterday and discovered that the audio codec I used was incompatible with AppleTV. You will need to convert the file to AAC audio format.

If you don't mind fiddling a little ...

There is a very interesting free converter that will make that sound
adjustment .

It is called:
MPEG Streamclip
and is available for Mac or Windows at [a href=\"http://www.squared5.com/]squared5.com[/url]
 
Make a 100% Quality MP4 file with AAC sound - no interlacing.

You can also make and preview brightness/contrast adjustments that may
be necessary for your TV set. My old CRT needs brightness +10. You can preview the settings before starting the encode


Have fun!

Chris S

Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #49 on: March 31, 2007, 01:16:16 pm »

For the record, I want to thank those of you who have expressed strong reservations about the conversion to Download Video. There have been a significant number of subscribers who have also emailed me with the same thought. Your feedback will make a difference.

That being said...

Ending _subscriptions_ simply means that we don't have a fixed DVD mortgage on future distribution.

While I might understand the irritation expressed above if you were going to get 'cut-off' or if it were going to be the case that you couldn't sit in front of the TV and watch the VJ, that simply is not the case. The only thing that will eventually change significantly is the delivery method. The screen quality may or may not be exactly the same, it rather depends on your viewing environment. Newer video codecs such as H.264 are amazingly more efficient than DVD's MPEG2: smaller files of equivalent quality.

But DVDs will continue for a while. How many? I don't know. My editing & production speed is not getting faster. Delivery costs keep getting higher. (What did you pay to fill up your car this week?) But if the demand is there and a large majority of present subscribers stay away from Download video, and are prepared to keep buying expensive delivery - then the DVDs will keep coming - albeit slowly and considerably behind the release of download video. My guess is that eventually most viewers will choose the cheaper, easier, more timely method of delivery.

LLVJ has a tiny market of dedicated DVD viewers for which Michael & I thank you. The reality is that there is a far larger goup of viewers who are already starting to download their information and entertainment - yes, quite a lot of them from L-L!

No, the video files we provide are not for everyone. Yes, we are asking you to bear a different cost of delivery. FWIW -  I am on a satellite ISP and resent paying three to four times what my city cousins pay for half the service - but I feel that is part of the cost of living away from the Big Smoke. And that service too will eventually come down in price. I also resent and will soon cut off the satellite TV service that I also pay for - since I now get most of my viewing over the ISP.

The fact is that Download video is what most people watch on their TVs right now - via cable or satellite: MPEG4 streams coming in as bits. On the screen, it makes no difference whether the bits come off a plastic disk or a hard drive or over a wire. I just set up an AppleTV and the pictures look great on my old CRT! Maybe I will go out and buy an HD set next year       _maybe_!

Any advance in technology that makes people change, will meet resistance - that's natural. But over time (my guess is about two years) the penetration of devices such as TiVo, PVRs, AppleTV and others  will bunny hop the silly HD-DVD vs. BluRay argument. Who needs extra bits of plastic sitting around on shelves when a cheaper better quality product can be had through the pipe that already comes into your house? Yes, dial-up ISPs are going to be left behind - just like my 8 track stereo and VHS player. Yes, it does mean dragging off to the local big-box store to buy another damned electronic box but that is the world we have fashioned for ourselves.

There has long been a 'disconnect' between the two screens we gaze at. A disconnect fashioned by the separate development of computer 'viewing' and television viewing - IMO now a strangely phony one: "Computer=Work" "Television=Play" Hmmmm - maybe.

Please note - in case you had not:  those separate technologies so loved by the purveyors of the various electronic boxes required to support that disconnect, are rapidly and inexorably connecting - oh and yes, spawning the demand for a few extra electronic boxes along the way

Chris S

Jay Kaplan

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« Reply #50 on: March 31, 2007, 01:41:03 pm »

I can buy a lot of DVDs for the cost of all those extra black boxes. If I can renew my subscription to LLVJ for DVD distribution I will. if not, I won't.

The savings of downloading will be offset by the cost of the additional hardware to move it from my computer to my TV. And, I still have the damn learning curve to figure out how to do it.  

Life is too short. Technology is wonderful, when it works. And when it doesn't, it is a very big very expensive paperweight sitting on my desk. No thank you  
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Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #51 on: March 31, 2007, 01:47:25 pm »

Quote
Life is too short. Technology is wonderful, when it works. And when it doesn't, it is a very big very expensive paperweight sitting on my desk. No thank you   
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109891\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
AppleTV actually is plug and play - so long as us content-providers do our homework!  

Chris

lbergman

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« Reply #52 on: March 31, 2007, 08:11:23 pm »

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No, the video files we provide are not for everyone. Yes, we are asking you to bear a different cost of delivery. FWIW -  I am on a satellite ISP and resent paying three to four times what my city cousins pay for half the service - but I feel that is part of the cost of living away from the Big Smoke. And that service too will eventually come down in price. I also resent and will soon cut off the satellite TV service that I also pay for - since I now get most of my viewing over the ISP.

...

Any advance in technology that makes people change, will meet resistance - that's natural. But over time (my guess is about two years) the penetration of devices such as TiVo, PVRs, AppleTV and others  will bunny hop the silly HD-DVD vs. BluRay argument. Who needs extra bits of plastic sitting around on shelves when a cheaper better quality product can be had through the pipe that already comes into your house? Yes, dial-up ISPs are going to be left behind - just like my 8 track stereo and VHS player. Yes, it does mean dragging off to the local big-box store to buy another damned electronic box but that is the world we have fashioned for ourselves.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109888\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Of course, I should point out that for what I would pay for high-speed access every two months here I could purchase another four-issue subscription to LLVJ, with change to spare (or to pay more toward delivery)...

I'm actually not opposed to downloading a DVD ISO of the LLVL, it just that I can't get high-speed access for what I consider a reasonable cost here yet. (The cost would come down if a lot more people would refuse to buy the service at the current price, but I guess too many others are willing to pay it...but that's another topic for another time.   )

I'll also make the point that I'd rather have "extra bits of plastic sitting around on shelves" not only with the LLVL on them, but all my movies too. That's because that plastic is a better long-term storage medium than any hard drive, and more trustworthy/reliable than any online storage service which could be interrupted (or discontinued) at any time. (Although, if one only wants to watch something once and know they will never watch it again, then a on-line service probably would be better, assuming they have the "pipe" for it.    )
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Bob Nicholson

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« Reply #53 on: April 01, 2007, 05:49:21 am »

Hi Chris

Can you make a small .mp4 file available for testing please? as I do not appear to have any files of that format.

Cheers,

Bob

Quote
The next HiRes files will be .mp4 not .mov. Same codec (H.264) same resolution but a marginally different container. Some viewers suffer due to a Mac-centric producer   
Chris S
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109881\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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Bob Nicholson

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« Reply #54 on: April 01, 2007, 01:03:14 pm »

Quote
There is a very interesting free converter that will make that sound
adjustment .

It is called:
MPEG Streamclip
and is available for Mac or Windows at squared5.com
 
Make a 100% Quality MP4 file with AAC sound - no interlacing.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109883\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Tried that, BUT my DVD authoring software (Nero on a PC) does not recognise mp4 as a valid format :=(

Bob
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61Dynamic

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« Reply #55 on: April 01, 2007, 01:09:43 pm »

Quote
Hi Chris

Can you make a small .mp4 file available for testing please? as I do not appear to have any files of that format.

Cheers,

Bob
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Not all h.264 files are .mp4. .mov can be encoded as h.264 as well.

The [a href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/]Apple Movie Trailers[/url] are encoded in h.264 as are the PixelCorps shows. If you want .mp4 specifically, downloadable Google Videos use that format when you download ipod compatible version.
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boku

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« Reply #56 on: April 01, 2007, 08:00:07 pm »

Quote
Well - almost Bob but not quite. I installed mine yesterday and discovered that the audio codec I used was incompatible with AppleTV. You will need to convert the file to AAC audio format.

If you don't mind fiddling a little ...

There is a very interesting free converter that will make that sound
adjustment .

It is called:
MPEG Streamclip
and is available for Mac or Windows at squared5.com
 
Make a 100% Quality MP4 file with AAC sound - no interlacing.

You can also make and preview brightness/contrast adjustments that may
be necessary for your TV set. My old CRT needs brightness +10. You can preview the settings before starting the encode
Have fun!

Chris S
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109883\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Chris,

Thanks for the info - I haven't installed the aTV yet, but I'll take your word for it - I'm running this now on the first file.

But - this is still a laborious way to get this on a TV. Since you are discontinuing DVDs, can't we at least download files that are natively compatible with aTV without all this processing. This is too much hassle.
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Bob Kulon

Oh, one more thing...[b

John.Murray

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« Reply #57 on: April 02, 2007, 01:05:02 pm »

Quote
The next HiRes files will be .mp4 not .mov. Same codec (H.264) same resolution but a marginally different container. Some viewers suffer due to a Mac-centric producer   
Chris S
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks Chris!  Much appreciated.

I've noticed a few comments regarding h.264/mpg4 quality compared to mpg2 content on dvd:

[a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264[/url]

For the impatient - buzz down to the Applications heading

hth - John
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Bob Nicholson

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« Reply #58 on: April 03, 2007, 06:30:44 am »

Quote
It is called:
MPEG Streamclip
and is available for Mac or Windows at squared5.com
 
Make a 100% Quality MP4 file with AAC sound - no interlacing.

You can also make and preview brightness/contrast adjustments that may
be necessary for your TV set. My old CRT needs brightness +10. You can preview the settings before starting the encode
Have fun!

Chris S
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=109883\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Chris, I cannot make a DVD Video from an .mp4 any more than I can from .mov. I'm using (as I suspect most people will be) a PC, not a MAC which may make a difference I suppose.

I have tried converting .mov to mpeg2 so that I can write these to DVD Video BUT the conversion is very time consuming and the quality is, at best, just about acceptable. I then have to load the file into a DVD Authoring program (NEROvision Express) and this takes a further 2 hours or so to add chapter marks, encode the file and write it to a DVD.

This is taking around 3 to 4 hours of proccessor intensive time to get a just acceptable result, with the DVD you send out I just have to pop it into a player and sit back and enjoy.

Also my ISP (here in the UK) caps my downloads to 2GB per month, although they have not enforced this to date!

The file format you use NEEDS to be one which can be written to DVD Video without having to spend hours converting it, PLEASE.

Cheers

Bob (in the UK)
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61Dynamic

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« Reply #59 on: April 03, 2007, 12:18:56 pm »

Quote
a PC, not a MAC which may make a difference I suppose.
It does. DVD authoring and video converting is trivial on a mac as it comes with everything you need.

However, some Google searching will net you quite a few options for burning .mp4/.mov files to DVD on the windows platform. Free and paid for.

Start here and see what you find. Also search Version Tracker and Download.com.
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