AWA 2010 - Pro downloads active; Expo 4 days left, August 20

[Kireblue]

I'm not even gonna try to make the pro deadline this year. But expo, here I come

[The Wired Knight]

Gonna be a close call for me again since I'll need to get my pro video done and uploaded before I get married and am busy on a honeymoon.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Gonna be a close call for me again since I'll need to get my pro video done and uploaded before I get married and am busy on a honeymoon.

Just get your new wife to help you out and you can spend your honeymoon editing (think of the money you'll save )

Vlad

[Kionon]

It's that time again...

[Scintilla]

I just thought of something. For the Professional contest, if we choose to download the contest files rather than send blank DVDs...

The default and baseline format will still be DVD quality (and format) MPEG2 files...

So, do you mean individual MPEG-2 system files, or the ISOs of the authored DVDs? Or will both options be available?

(This will influence my decision. If the ISOs won't be available, then I'd rather send in the blank DVDs; but if they will be available, then I'd rather download them and burn the disks myself.)

[Kitsuner]

I'm glad I'll have finished moving before I mail off my blank discs.

[Junipertay]

Hi, quick question---when the rules say, "we require at least 2 seconds of black video on either side of each entry", does that mean you can have 2 seconds of black in the beginning of the video, and not at the end? Or does it mean you need 2 seconds on BOTH beginning and end?

Much thanks!

~Junipertay

[Moonie]

The Pro deadline is on my birthday
could this be a sign?
Don't think i'd have anything in time though

[outlawed]

I just thought of something. For the Professional contest, if we choose to download the contest files rather than send blank DVDs...

The default and baseline format will still be DVD quality (and format) MPEG2 files...

So, do you mean individual MPEG-2 system files, or the ISOs of the authored DVDs?

If they aren't distributing this as an authored DVD Video disc they might as well just send everything as H264 MPEG-4 files to save bandwidth. Plus if you're talking quality after a recompress you aren't going to beat this with MPEG-2. My personal experience also says this is better because there is a variety of playback software and especially a lot of different MPEG-2 splitters for Windows directshow that choke on some files. Hence if these aren't authored discs then I actually foresee less compatibility playback issues with MPEG-4 H264.

Does the VAT room still output everything as MPEG-2 over a netstream (thus meaning us encoding our own MPEG-2 files that are compatible with it is the best quality since there is no recompression)? As far as Expo & Pro winners I'm assuming everything will get recompressed for a DVD that they show in Main Programming if it's like when I went in 2007.

[outlawed]

Aspect: Our projectors and screens are setup for 4:3 aspect videos, though our hardware is capable of properly supporting 16:9 content if it is encoded as such. Otherwise please letterbox wide content to conform to this resolution and 4:3 playback.

This is poorly worded as it basically says we support 16:9 if it is encoded right but you do not explicitly say how it should be encoded. There are many ways to encode 16:9 content. Do you mean to say that you accept anamorphic 720x480 MPEG-2 that is flagged 16:9 or do you mean to say the proper encoding for 16:9 content in MPEG-2 should be to letterbox it and encode as 4:3 video. Also the section is labeled MPEG but MPEG-1 does not support aspect ratio flags if my memory is correct. Do you accept videos that are encoded at 720x480 but aren't flagged as either 4:3 or 16:9? Because I know a lot of editors like to do that 3rd option especially first time MPEG-2 submitters =p.