Cyrix wrote:No, it's not a horror (did I say it was?), it's just that cropping it is unnecessary because you can still scale it up past the frame edges in the editor.
You should have your footage exactly as you need it to be in a lossless format before it even touches an editing suite.
Did you work in the video industry? When I worked with a production company we used DV-AVI (or MOV on a MAC) for everything. Capture from camera to DV-AVI, edit the DV-AVI, export a DV-AVI and plug that into whatever DVD creation software we used. The miniscule loss of quality was considered acceptable for time and space tradeoffs. Since then the contract work I've done has always been Premiere with DV-AVI - small companies making 480i/p videos, but everyone worked the same.
Yes, from about 1998-2006. I've worked on linear editing setups like Play's Trinity with multiple SVHS cams, to using mini DV Canons and JVC cams and editing on Windows NT with Premiere 5.1c, to Avid, to the Premiere Pro series, and to finally switching over entirely to Mac. I still use Premiere Pro, but have plenty of experience with the Final Cut family. I worked for a TV station, made news segments, filmed a documentary on drunk driving, and made TV commercials for Democratic candidates. However, this is largely irrelevant to the current discussion because...
As I have explained elsewhere, the process you describe is different from what we do as AMV editors. From camera to editor to DVD authoring, you (or your production team) control the input at each step. DV was absolutely acceptable for SD TV, and we used it. It was interlaced, we left it that way, edited it that way, and authored it to DVD that way. We didn't have to do any processing on the footage, UNLESS the cameraman (small station, so most of us shot, edited, and authored our own segments) screwed up on white balancing, etc. Of course, SVHS tape was usually progressive, but that was still captured into DV.
However, when dealing with anime DVDs, we do not have control over the initial source. We buy it like it is. Then we have to spend time undoing any damage done to the source due to the original format or encoding. We have a lot of processing to do. That processing occurs between ripping/decrypting and placing the footage into the editing suite. Going straight from the VOB to the editing suite, even after a "conversion" to DV-AVI, is absolutely useless. You still need to filter. Something I never had to do when I was working in TV.
Also, DV is a group of codecs, AVI/MOV are containers. Don't get them confused.
Some people are going to cons, but most of these videos end up on this website and maybe on Youtube. If it's a novice editor working on an AMV for fun, do they need extremely competitive video quality with people counting the compression artifacts? When I watch a video, if it's not shit quality, I enjoy it for the AMV, not for the codecs involved in making it.

This isn't about needing. It's about wanting. If you don't have the interest in your own video to do things the way they should be done, why should I have any interest either?
I spend a very long amount of time on my videos. There's always going to be people who do above-professional-leve work and people with a god damned hobby doing something for fun. People who really care are still going to use AVI-synth but hopefully some people who don't want to deal with it can make some videos without it. If you can't accept there are people with different levels of involvement and dedication in making art without getting paid to do so, maybe you shouldn't be on the internet. It's ridiculously close-minded that you want to enforce your expectations of quality on everyone in the world, and prevent people from doing things the way they want to because it doesn't suit your personal standards.
Maybe you do, but you're playing enabler to those that won't.
I'm not getting paid for this. Not anymore. Didn't pay very much anyhow. I can accept the fact that there are people with different levels of involvement and dedication to any hobby, that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and pretend I think that's as valid as someone who puts in the work. I'm no cultural relativist. Not all efforts are equal.
Do I look like I have any way of "enforcing" the community standards? About the only thing I can do is what I am already doing, exerting peer pressure by explaining why those standards are the standards of the community, not just my own, and how there are reasons why they are the standards. Yet, I cannot stop you if you wish to use inferior methodologies that limit your ability to grow and improve, and you can upload whatever you want (unfortunately, in my view) to local as long as it's recognisable as an AMV. There is no way to prevent people from doing whatever they want if they've a mind to do it. The only thing I can do is plead with them not to.
If you're going to do something, you should accept there is usually more than one way to do it.
And you should recognise some ways are better than others. This isn't one of those better ways.
GOOD GOD. Have you heard of children's sports? Softball? Playing a game on the "easy" difficulty setting?
Are you a child? Do you wish to be treated like a child? If so, then your argument might have merit. However, even the genuine children on the Org often insist they do not want to be treated like children, your argument has no weight when all the participants claim to be deserving of an adult environment.
Softball is a distinct sport. It is not some diet-Baseball, not anymore. Speaking of children, I've got a team of 12 year old girls who would beat the crap out of you for suggesting that it is.
You have no right to tell others what level of pride they should take from their work. You have no right to tell them they don't deserve pride in their work because they didn't do it your way.
I have every right to tell people that there is a skill set they must utilise to improve their videos, and that if they don't acquire that skill set, then they are not showing that video improvement is a priority to them. That's fine, but I won't watch their videos. I will watch videos with very weak technique as long as I believe the editor is making an earnest attempt to improve. Those that not only do not improve, but slap away the hand that offers instruction, will find me a most unwilling viewer.