Plagiarism in AMV contests

Shadow Flare · Post by **Shadow Flare** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:18 am

Somtimes it's much faster to just download the footage. There is that one second clip of a person screaming...and it's on another DVD. But suddenly you see it in an AMV, and it's up for easy grabs. Which choice would you make?

If it's six seconds from an AMV, and it still looks good, why can't it be forgiven?

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:22 am

Oh, noone says you have to spend that much

However far you're willing to go, it's always up to you. There's obviously ethics involved in downloading - but aside from that, there's the quality. Yes, some downloaded stuff can look alright. But quite a lot of it will be full of artifacts and other graphical distortions. And then you compress it again... not too pretty.

Perfectionism is not neccesary, but it's something to respect. Besides, good visual quality is always a plus, and bad visual quality is always a minus. Taking footage more seriously makes the viewers take you more seriously.

MomochiZabuza · Post by **MomochiZabuza** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:23 am

I agree, and the quality was even good so its not like im gonna get the DVD, rip it and just do really close to the same thing some other guy did

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:45 am

Well, downloaded DVD rips tend to be aimed at portability (as in, ease/quickness of transfer), NOT quality. By definition, compressed files are lossy. And when you edit them, you have to compress them again. That's lossy x2.

So, consider this. Keeping in mind that it's really NOT a good thing to do, especially considering the .org's moral code, realize that you're taking 2x the video loss by using compressed footage. It may not be much, but to some people, that's obviously quite a noticeable difference... thus the willingness to spend money and use nothing but the best-available footage. You're already creating some losses through compression. Might as well minimize them by using the highest-quality source - and nothing will be as good as the real DVD source.

MomochiZabuza · Post by **MomochiZabuza** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:57 am

umm are you sure that its possible to get stuff from the DVD without ripping it because i thought you had to to get the video clips

Org Profile · Post by **Otohiko** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:09 am

How do you go about it?

AVS scripts don't create any losses because they use original MPEG-2 source.

HuffYUV clips are completely lossless, if you use those.

DivX or XviD clips, however, are lossy. If they're very high-quality, they're not extremely lossy, but lossy nonetheless.

VegettoEX · Post by **VegettoEX** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:16 pm

This whole situation seems to be following the same logic that (what I refer to as) "website bootleggers" use.

I've had my website stuff stolen time and time again. Whether it be my own writing, archives of scans, even my entire old music archives, complete with HTML coding, bad translations, and made-up CDs... they always steal my shit ^^. When I approached these individuals about it, the response I got was:

"What does it matter? This stuff was never yours to begin with. The Japanese copyright owners are the ones it belongs to."

Well no shit, sherlock. There's something very measurable about "quality" and "effort," though.

The very fact that someone goes out of their way to capture or obtain their own footage for their own video, regardless of cost or reason, speaks volumes about their dedication. Even if it's just for that one split-second, or even a single frame... if they go out and purchase that damn DVD, all the more power to them.

If they just take it from someone else's video...? Sure, we've got absolutely no recourse to take. In the eyes of everyone else, though... we certainly know where you stand compared to the original author.

MomochiZabuza · Post by **MomochiZabuza** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:28 pm

Are you trying to say i have no dedication?

If you are i believe you are very wrong, even though i did take one part of the amv from some other guy it doesn't mean the rest ofmy amv took countless houres to perfect it

NEVER EVER think that just because you take the hard way you are better than people who take the easy way out

paizuri · Post by **paizuri** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:30 pm

MomochiZabuza wrote:Are you trying to say i have no dedication?

NEVER EVER think that just because you take the hard way you are better than people who take the easy way out

MomochiZabuza · Post by **MomochiZabuza** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:32 pm