John Lott vs. MMM Video CD - Looking for 3 helpers ;-)

[braindead0]

I just finished v0.9 of my MMM, Lies and Videotape VideoCD. Should be playable on any DVD player, and any computer that can handle MPEG1 video).

It contains my editorialize version of the MMM blathering (MMM Lies and Videotape has some screenshots and info), the complete John Lott talk from Nov. 2nd 2002 at Independence Ohio.

Also contains the complete press conference from the MMM'ers (for reference)...

And some bonus tracks!

I'm looking for 3 people to review the VCD, provide some feedback... and if possible I'd like to find some helpers who would be willing to burn copies of the final version and send out for cost (total cost for shipping/materials is under $3 by a long shot) or for free...

Considering the 200 or so hits on the downloadable version of John Lotts' talk, I'd hate to burn up my burner

First 3 offers win, post a message here (so everybody knows the slots are taken) and e-mail shipping information to me at bkwalker@drb_removespamblock_systems.com. I'll ship copies out today (assuming I get takers).

Remove the underscores and everything between to get the real e-mail addy.

Thanks!

[twoblink]

What you should do is put it up on a webserver in an ISO form, so people can download it and burn their own. I'd love to see a copy..

[nsf003]

I'd take one, but twoblink has a better idea.

nsf

[Kirk Keller]

Count me in.

[braindead0]

This version is currently 'beta' as it were, I'm waiting for some information (the woman who claimed to be the president of Cleveland MMM... well her name doesn't appear anywhere on the MMM website for the cleveland chapter...fishy).

I'm mostly interested in feedback for the time being, I can post it as an ISO, but it has to be written in raw format 2352 I think, and some CD burning software will not just burn this type of ISO image without tweaking the parameters.

And I hate to impose on Rich and TFL's server, cause I'm sure nobody would want to download 400+mb from my machine.. of course I can remove the 'bonus tracks' and get it down to about 350mb...

[Derek Zeanah]

I'd offer downloads from my server (about half-a-T1 at present) if you could just make it available as an .avi file. I'll zip it up and post the link here...

I'm sure others would too.

[Don Gwinn]

In the meantime, I'll take one and help out.

[MitchSchaft]

I'll help as well.

[spacemanspiff]

is there NOONE around here that utilizes ftp? noone else uses programs like direct connect, where you dont have to subscribe, just be able to log in and download directly from anothers computer?

i've found 100+ full audio boots of tool concerts as well as a couple dozen video boots, full albums, full movies, everything you can think of.

[braindead0]

I'd offer downloads from my server (about half-a-T1 at present) if you could just make it available as an .avi file. I'll zip it up and post the link here...

Oh, I could make them available as AVI files, but then you'd have to have MJPEG codec and the files would be huge (MMM part is 8gigs, but hey it's lossless). I could re-encode with another codec, but if I'm going to do that I might as well mpeg1 so that everybody can view them...

Part of the reason for the VCD is that viewing on a TV is much much better than on a PC screen for this format due to the way in which a TV scans, and I can put 650megs on video CD instead of asking people to download that from my server... Of course if you've got a megahuge 60" TV it'll not look that good and most DVD players can't handle SuperVideoCD which is much better..

I could post the VCD format mpeg1 clips (as I did for the John Lott talk), but most people don't have VCD authoring software or want to try and put one together manually.

is there NOONE around here that utilizes ftp?

I use ftp all the time, running an ftp server on my machine now.. but that doesn't fix the fact that my uplink is fairly slow (cable modem).

[MitchSchaft]

I have an ftp server set up as well. I have an upload speed of 768Kb/sec. That's not too bad. Let me know if you want me to set up an account for people to download it off of my machine.

[braindead0]

Let me know if you want me to set up an account for people to download it off of my machine.

Can you set it up for anon users? I can put a link on my site that'll ftp with a user and password but that's totally unsecure, and trying to distribute passwords to people so they can download would be an administrative nightmare.

It sounds to me like the way to go here will be ISO image (I'll do one with bonus tracks and one without ;-) available for download, and for those who would prefer an already done VCD, that should be do-able as well.

I suspect it's about a week or so from done.. The jury is still out on whether the woman that claimed to be the president of the cleveland chapter of MMM was perhaps lying about that as well. So far no confirmation or denial from MMM (I posed the question in such a way, they'll have no idea why I'm asking )

If I don't hear back by the end of next week, I'm going to need to add that to the video... as possibly the biggest lie of the day...

[Frohickey]

I'd like to help out.

We should do multiple ways of distribution, some via DVDs, some by .avi, and others.

How about the ones that get mailed one DVD should sent out two DVDs. Sort of like Social Security... err.. Pyramid scheme.

[braindead0]

We should do multiple ways of distribution, some via DVDs, some by .avi, and others

VideoCD's are just regular CDR, so most people can duplicate them... and most all DVD players play VCD (most don't play super VCD, don't know why..mine does).. I'd probably skip .AVI due to compatability issues, mpeg is the most compatible way to go and shouldn't require any special codecs.

How about the ones that get mailed one DVD should sent out two DVDs. Sort of like Social Security... err.. Pyramid scheme.

That's a thought as well.. After the 0.9 version is checked out by my helpers (thanks guys, it's in the mail) and the final version is ready.. I'll probably send out 10 copies for free, or something like that...just to get the ball rolling.

[Pendragon]

How long is it?

My brother was on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" a couple years ago (won $1000, lost out to a crappy trick question)

Anyway - he appearance was about 10 minutes or so and a friend grabbed it and made a good quality .AVI (88MB) and a good MPEG (109MB) and a decent quality .ASF (7MB)

I bet you could really compress it down to a more manageable size if you wanted - then try and distribute it on some of those file sharing networks...

[MikeK]

If you didn't get 3 yet, or I can't count I'll help out. All I need is a regular CD burner - correct?

Sent you an e-mail anyway.

[braindead0]

Anyway - he appearance was about 10 minutes or so and a friend grabbed it and made a good quality .AVI (88MB) and a good MPEG (109MB) and a decent quality .ASF (7MB)

I don't mind downsampling the raw footage (did it for the John Lott segment), but.. I have standards, and having a lot of experience trying to share .AVI's found that people don't like to have to install more codecs.

I could squeeze the mpeg down to a 1200k stream, but I wouldn't go any lower than that as it really starts to mess up the quality.. Think about it this way, I'm working with about 20gigs of material, edited down to about 4gigs of lossless compressed video.. the mpeg1 video cd footage should be around 100mb.. 4gigs compressed to 100mb is already more loss than I'd prefer ;-).

Not to mention the bonus tracks on the video CD (about 100mb worth) and the convenience of having this video along with both raw hunks of footage (totalling around 350mb of mpeg1) all on one CD not taking up HD space..and not likely to get deleted..

I think I'll end up distributing it both ways, video CD for a few folks (with priority going to those who will dup and ship 2 copies to somebody else). And the decent quality mpeg1 version posted online.

[braindead0]

BTW: I've put myself on the MMM and Brady Bunch mailing lists, I'm thinking about doing more of this stuff (assuming this goes over well)

perhaps I can make a career out of hounding them...and pay for a T1 line too..that'd be nice..

[braindead0]

I think I know the most flexible way to distribute.. Assuming the preview folks think it's worth while (hey, maybe I'm on crack and the only one that thinks my work is any good )

I'm going to cover the cost of shipping at least 10 video CD's. Priority going to people who are willing to burn and ship two copies.

On my website (WalkerVision) I'll post links to two VCD iso's, one with the bonus tracks, one without, along with idividual Lott, MMM, MMMLiesAndVideotape mpeg1's in a variety of formats (well, only two for MMMLiesAndVideotape).

Then, anybody that wants to host any of these files (one, two, all, whatever) can put them up on whatever system they have, and add a link in my download section (easy, feel free to try it out, no registration required although I have to validate the submissions). This way all the various links to the files are in one location, and downloaders can find the best one to use.

I think the above plan will result in enough flexibility and ease for everybody.

That is, again assuming it's worth the time.. haven't had any feedback yet except from my wife..and that's hardly objective

[Frohickey]

Come up with a website or something where people can sign up to recieve a copy of the DVD or video CD if they promise to burn 2 copies, and send that the next two on the list.

Sign me up to get one. I'll burn a couple for a couple of fellow TFLers.

[MitchSchaft]

I can burn CDs as well. I also have a Radeon 8500 AIW so I can convert VHS stuff, too. Along with my upload speed, I'm sure I can help out.

[braindead0]

I've got the third one going out the door today. It'll take a bit to get feedback and incorporate any changes into the footage.

Come up with a website or something where people can sign up to recieve a copy of the DVD or video CD if they promise to burn 2 copies, and send that the next two on the list.

Yeah, I guess I could put a database system up on my server to manage this..but.. then you'd have to register on another system.

I think I can manage this just fine via e-mail at, I just added email information and links that'll put in the proper subject automagically at my MLV Video Page.

That should be a reasonable start to things.

[bedlamite]

I've got a couple of machines with burners and stack of blanks and would be happy to help out. Still 56k out here in the sticks though. Figures, I should have read this thread yesterday.