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

[Phantasmagoriat]

ok that's cool. I guess what I'm getting at is, there could be an [optional] part of the upload procedure, perhaps even in the rules, that encourages people to provide multiple versions of their video so that there is a copy optimized for con playback, (ex .mpg) and one or more optimized for computer playback (HD/SD .mp4). I mean, this year I just sent a single copy, and thought it might as well be the 720p version. I know I probably should have asked, but if an alternate version was an expectation, rather than request, I'm sure more people would go for it, and the viewing experience on the judging side would be improved. I certainly didn't watch The Apple Tree in SD.

[outlawed]

To be honest from the contest coordinator perspective it's a lot better to just have one version of an entry to deal with from people. This removes significant overhead. Entry management is the one big PITA that most people on the outside don't factor in. The contest rules can usually be structured in such a way that they can get the con playback version they need from what you give them. In the case of pro we are talking about improving the quality for pro downloads. Does this quality need to exceed the threshold for viewing at the convention itself? Is that the main issue people have? I'd like to think the community could still judge at that quality level. Let's keep in mind overall quality has improved across the board since the early VHS AWA-PRO era.

There's two solutions I would take. Either distro the version the creator uploads in the first place (unless file size is some limiting factor since AWA takes all kinds of stuff like huff/dv/etc) or stick with giving out the con playback version. Con playback version quality is going to be limited based on what they got. This isn't much of an issue but explicitly pointing out or enforcing frame rates and resolutions sizes might help some here. My solution when I was doing AMV stuff for ACEN contests was to lock things down gradually over the years to control the input quality level. I can't think of a DVD playback version we made that looked bad even though they were all re-compressed for it (even if you sent me MPEG-2 keep in mind).

This is all academic at this point though. Pretty much everything mentioned in this thread was already known or being worked on by AWA staff within the limitations they have to deal with.

[Quu]

I guess I should pipe in, since I am now official and all that. The most important thing to a properly run convention is stability. New and shiney is nice, but stability is king!

That being said, I am currently addressing the situation, and running a series of tests to provide a complete solution (from encode to con playback) that satisfies both a conventions desire for stability and a creators desire for flexibility, while still optimizing for quality. I want to support HD content, but I want to make sure that in the rush to support new videos, we don't abandon our archive of videos and ignore our past. I am being very careful to test as much as I can.

My goal is to provide a future proof solution that a convention can use as a tool set, instead of a rigid instruction manual, to provide a consistent playback of creator submitted videos, and provide a method for the creator to validate what the playback will look like before submitting. But until I am satisfied with any replacement solution, I am sticking with what I know works.

While I have not exactly been very public about my work, I have been reaching out where I can to gather opinions and to solicit feedback. If you have ideas or concerns, I do carefully consider all feedback, even ones I don't agree with (I don't assume I know everything), and will research and adjust my testing accordingly. If you wish to help in other ways, provide me "test case videos" that are particularly bad or unique that i can use in my regression testing, or buy me test equipment that I can use to certify the playback.

Ultimately I would love a 1920x1440 10k lumen projector in the VAT and in the Main Events Room at AWA, and a super beefy computer to handle it. But I need to be realistic, and my solution will hopefully scale to support a smaller conventions SD projector to a Europa Con's 4K projector, and provide a consistent experience for both.

[Phantasmagoriat]

This is really exciting news the more I think about it
I can almost hear hints for a standard AMV playback solution,
which is something I hope the community can work towards one day.

[CrackTheSky]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but for those of us who won a contest at AWA, but weren't in attendance, will our awards be shipped to us?

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Oh, as the person who runs more AMV rooms then anyone, I've been disscussing thing with Quu as I would like nothinn more then to have a great quality and STABLE solution for all the rooms and contrests I run within the limits of the projectors

Vlad

[jingoro]

Awards can be shipped, if you contact videoart@awa-con.com with your name, mailing address, etc.

[dreamawake]

Awards can be shipped, if you contact videoart@awa-con.com with your name, mailing address, etc.

will do

[Pwolf]

Awards can be shipped, if you contact videoart@awa-con.com with your name, mailing address, etc.

Did you ship mine yet?

[jingoro]

Nothing's been shipped yet. This completely depends on my copious free time. I am very sorry for my lethargy and procrastination.