Leader for Episode 1

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  • #246
    ivaradi
    Keymaster
    I am going to post a short clip of OL episode 1. It is
    the fist 40 seconds of the leader for "Wind Blows Free".

    I am working on a scheme to share whatever episodes we all
    have. Here are a few suggestions I have.

    Encoding standards.

    Video should be encoded in MPG format. This is the
    form that is most universally accepted, and it is
    very easy to convert to whatever other format (.AVI,
    .MOV, MPEG2, DVD) from there.

    The clip is encoded at 800000 bitrate 352×240 mpeg-1
    which will allow two 50 minute episodes to fit on
    one 700mb CDR. That translates to 46 disks to store the
    whole series. What do you think of the quality of
    the picture?

    Exchanging.

    I have copies of the first 8 episodes which I am willing
    to share with the group. There are several very different
    possible methods for sharing. One is to develop a tree
    for passing the disks or videotapes along to each other.
    The idea is for the owner of an episode can send it to
    the next person on the list who will make a copy for him/herself
    and then send the original to the next person on the list.
    This involves being able to make a copy, and so excludes
    those who do not have the wherewithall to duplicate media.
    A second possibility is to make two copies of each episode, sending
    one along to the next copier, and another to someone who
    cannot copy.

    An entirely different scheme is to share mpg copies on CDR media.
    The advantage here is that the media costs are much lower, and
    the disks can be sent through the mail at low costs. There is
    a much larger advantage to exchanging CD's…the mpg format
    is uniform around the world, while television formats are not.
    In the US we use NTSC which is incompatible with the PAL format
    that much of the rest of the world uses. Sharing VCR tapes
    across the Atlantic is problematic, at best.

    Sharing CD's could work as described above. If we stuck to
    the encoding standard I suggest, two episodes would fit
    on a single CD, something like 12 would fit in a DVD (data storage).
    I have stored some of my episodes to DVD video and a single disk
    will easily hold three 50 minute stories. It is possible to fit more
    on a DVD with the best (expensive) equipment, but I do not have it.

    Another possibility is to use a peer-to-peer file sharing
    network to exchange files, like the famous Napster which no
    longer exists. I am investigating some of these and they look
    promising.

    Is anyone interested in pursuing this with me? I think it is a shame
    that the broadcasters have shown so little interest in Onedin.
    I think it was a great story. It's too bad that VCR's
    weren't invented sooner…there would be copies in circulation,
    where now we have precious few.

    nautnaut

    #247
    liamegan2000
    Member

    —– Original Message —–
    From: "nautnaut" <nautnaut@yahoo.com>
    To: <shiponedingroup@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 10:42 PM
    Subject: [shiponedingroup] Leader for Episode 1

    > Encoding standards.
    >
    > Video should be encoded in MPG format. This is the
    > form that is most universally accepted, and it is
    > very easy to convert to whatever other format (.AVI,
    > .MOV, MPEG2, DVD) from there.

    Yes a good idea.

    > The clip is encoded at 800000 bitrate 352×240 mpeg-1
    > which will allow two 50 minute episodes to fit on
    > one 700mb CDR. That translates to 46 disks to store the
    > whole series. What do you think of the quality of
    > the picture?

    > Exchanging.
    >
    > I have copies of the first 8 episodes which I am willing
    > to share with the group. There are several very different
    > possible methods for sharing. One is to develop a tree
    > for passing the disks or videotapes along to each other.
    > The idea is for the owner of an episode can send it to
    > the next person on the list who will make a copy for him/herself
    > and then send the original to the next person on the list.
    > This involves being able to make a copy, and so excludes
    > those who do not have the wherewithall to duplicate media.
    > A second possibility is to make two copies of each episode, sending
    > one along to the next copier, and another to someone who
    > cannot copy.

    The problem with copying VHS is the rapid degrading of the copy quality and
    high cost of postage, I favour an all CD-r based system.

    >
    > An entirely different scheme is to share mpg copies on CDR media.
    > The advantage here is that the media costs are much lower, and
    > the disks can be sent through the mail at low costs. There is
    > a much larger advantage to exchanging CD's…the mpg format
    > is uniform around the world, while television formats are not.
    > In the US we use NTSC which is incompatible with the PAL format
    > that much of the rest of the world uses. Sharing VCR tapes
    > across the Atlantic is problematic, at best.
    >
    > Sharing CD's could work as described above. If we stuck to
    > the encoding standard I suggest, two episodes would fit
    > on a single CD,

    I can see a problem. I think it would be better to keep 1 episode per CD.
    Firstly it would simplify distribution, and it would also improve the
    quality. Bear in mind if any episodes come from my VHS tapes the quality is
    not great to start with. 50 minutes as 700mb would be watchable, degrade it
    any more than that and it would not be very good at all.

    Also the price of CD-r is so low I don't think that's a factor either.

    something like 12 would fit in a DVD (data storage).
    > I have stored some of my episodes to DVD video and a single disk
    > will easily hold three 50 minute stories. It is possible to fit more
    > on a DVD with the best (expensive) equipment, but I do not have it.

    A very good idea I could write them to a DVD at whatever bit rate I could
    mange which then could be used to send episodes across the pond or to
    mainland Europe for further distribution to other listees or W.H.Y. This all
    depend on my capture card when it arrives and my ability to use it!

    I don't think we should exclude those of us who for whatever reason cannot
    copy discs, I'm willing to do a few extra copies to fill in the gaps for
    those people if needed. Anyone who is worried about cost incurred for the
    "distributors" could send blank discs?

    >
    > Another possibility is to use a peer-to-peer file sharing
    > network to exchange files, like the famous Napster which no
    > longer exists. I am investigating some of these and they look
    > promising.

    Win Mx could be used, but the problem with all P2P networks is finding the
    file you want.

    > Is anyone interested in pursuing this with me? I think it is a shame
    > that the broadcasters have shown so little interest in Onedin.
    > I think it was a great story. It's too bad that VCR's
    > weren't invented sooner…there would be copies in circulation,
    > where now we have precious few.

    Yes absolutely, like I have said before I have every episode on VHS one or
    two were recorded from the later series when the program was originally
    aired 20 odd years ago. The rest were recorded from BBC repeats of the
    series around 1984 and UK gold (many of them on a dodgy VCR) about 11 years
    ago. The quality of many of them is reasonable, but a few tapes are not so
    good now unfortunately.

    Another thought is, is there any point copying the episodes that are already
    available commercially on either VHS or DVD unless someone somewhere in the
    world cannot obtain them? Should we first concentrate on providing episodes
    that are not available on the market now?

    Thanks for some really good ideas,

    Bill

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