by kholaras » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:30 pm
The sync issues (both this year and previously, but for different specific reasons) have been related to the mpeg conversion process, not the dvd mastering process. With the wide variety of formats I'm getting and, despite presumably using the same or similar software for exporting, the stupidly large range of subtle export permutations there is no single conversion routine I can use that will assure, 100%, that the final result is without flaw. I try to catch as many of the issues as possible but some are always going to get through. If you have 2 hours to listen to me bitch and moan at the convention, I'd be happy to give you a complete accounting of the bugs and incompatibilities I've encountered over the years producing this contest.
As for the DVD specific quirks (navigation mostly) some of it's spec limitations, some are quirks of the mastering software (last page of the first disc this year...the size of the buttons in the 4 high column are apparently the problem. I made them bigger and didn't retest the navigation on a hardware player), etc. Yes, we could get rid of the dvd and just go with individual video files but that just increases the likelyhood of people not downloading certain videos at all. Yea, one can skip over them on the disc now, but I feel better about it being truly one's decision to skip it vs being a failure on my part to even get that editor's video to the viewer. It also ensures a consistent viewing experience, ie for those folks that want to watch it on their home entertainment system but don't have a multimedia pc hooked up to it. If you want, mount the iso (or open it with the wide selection of programs that treat iso's like a container) and drag out the vobs. Probably not as nice since they're mastered as monolithic titlesets this year rather than distinct individual ones but...
Oh, and the file size difference for individual files vs a mastered disc is negligible. Assuming you actually download them all. And it's not like we forced people to take the download option.
Are there problems and issues with the current system? Yea, but as we see it it's a decent compromise having considered a lot of the alternatives.