Sakura Con 2004

Pie Row Maniac · Post by **Pie Row Maniac** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 12:44 am

You could sell oodles of Naruto material if you could get your hands on some.

If I can get my funds up (most likely; just got a new job) I'll be able to go. I also need to figure out just how much I need to get myself over there and back. Oh, and be able to sleep while there, that's always something to jot down... 8)

I still need to figure out who on this site will be attending. I know NME, YCSTR and DannyWilson are. Not sure about FurryCurry, Summ, Zerophite, and some Hypeo forum members who considered going.

One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?

Illia Sadri · Post by **Illia Sadri** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 2:01 am

I am going to see about making it. I've heard it is a fun con and I might as well use the free plane ticket I have for them overbooking my flight back from Otakon.

Of course it is pretty close to ACEN and well... WI to Seattle is quite the long distance haul.

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:29 am

Pie Row Maniac wrote:...One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?

You guys are allowed to start new threads rather than digging up old ones.

If it's like last year, CArnesen will be compiling the entire contest set on a DV tape that will be played for the exhibition. It's not a case where each video is played separately by putting a tape/DVD/CDR into a player. Only the tape is played from start to finish. More up-front work for him, but things run a lot smoother that way.

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 2:15 pm

TaranT wrote:
Pie Row Maniac wrote:...One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?
You guys are allowed to start new threads rather than digging up old ones.

If it's like last year, CArnesen will be compiling the entire contest set on a DV tape that will be played for the exhibition. It's not a case where each video is played separately by putting a tape/DVD/CDR into a player. Only the tape is played from start to finish. More up-front work for him, but things run a lot smoother that way.

Well, that is one way for sure... I myself use a computer and use a play list and all videos converted into mpeg2... I usually have two computers playing the list so if one goes I switch to the other in mid video...

I guss a long as there are backups both methods work great. I love DV and have a pro DV deak. The onlt downside of DV is it much more prone to drop outs, but other than that it's great...

Vlad

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:56 am

Vlad G Pohnert wrote:Well, that is one way for sure... I myself use a computer and use a play list and all videos converted into mpeg2....

Have you given any thought to playing hi-res AVI files (DV or HuffYUV) instead of MPEG2? Now that DVD writers and media are inexpensive - and getting cheaper - it is easier for creators to send high-quality files.

I know MCIPlay only does MPEG files, but maybe Zoom Player could substitute. I don't know if Zoom Player drives the Netstream card, though.

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 4:19 am

TaranT wrote:
Vlad G Pohnert wrote:Well, that is one way for sure... I myself use a computer and use a play list and all videos converted into mpeg2....
Have you given any thought to playing hi-res AVI files (DV or HuffYUV) instead of MPEG2? Now that DVD writers and media are inexpensive - and getting cheaper - it is easier for creators to send high-quality files.

I know MCIPlay only does MPEG files, but maybe Zoom Player could substitute. I don't know if Zoom Player drives the Netstream card, though.

The net stream is an mpeg decoder card. Pretty much there is no problem to encode DV or HuffYUV into Mpeg2. From the contests I've ran, all encoding from them looks real good on the big screen and you won’t see any difference if encoded right. Plus mpegs do not take a lot of computing power and drive demand to run since the encoder card does all the work pretty much and eliminates pretty much any chance of stops or "shuddering" of the playback... I think in the end a DVD that has been fully tested in the player that is used works as well for playback purposes.

Now for master archival, I keep my videos in the original DV format I edit in and have a few DV backups. Mpeg2
Is great for playback but I would never use it for archiving my masters… Anyway, this thread is starting to diverge for the topic at hand so I stop there

Vlad

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:28 am

Pie Row Maniac wrote:One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?

Wait, where does it say that in the rules? It says they'll accept AVIs with certain codecs and MPEGs, in addition to DVDs and SVCDs... how else are we going to send those if not on a CD-R?

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 2:43 pm

Vlad G Pohnert wrote:The net stream is an mpeg decoder card....

That's right, I forgot about that. MPEG2 conversion is pretty simple, but I keep thinking that less work would be necessary if the exhibition codec was the same as the editing codec.

Scintilla wrote:Wait, where does it say that in the rules? It says they'll accept AVIs with certain codecs and MPEGs, in addition to DVDs and SVCDs... how else are we going to send those if not on a CD-R?

I assumed PRM meant "VCD" since you're right: the rules don't restrict the media for digital submission. But VCD's are not allowed (SVCD is ok, though).

Also note that the rules prefer high-rate codecs (HuffYUV, uncompressed (i.e. no codec), DV) for digital submission. If you're editing with one of these, then there's no need to recompress if you have the means to send a large file (e.g. DVD-ROM or spanned CDs).

Pie Row Maniac · Post by **Pie Row Maniac** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 3:52 am

Scintilla wrote:
Pie Row Maniac wrote:One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?
Wait, where does it say that in the rules? It says they'll accept AVIs with certain codecs and MPEGs, in addition to DVDs and SVCDs... how else are we going to send those if not on a CD-R?

All I know is that in the rules it says this:

Acceptable Authored Media Formats: DVD±R/RW, S-VCD

So I would assume CD-Rs and CD-RWs are not accepted.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 8:00 pm

Pie Row Maniac wrote:
Scintilla wrote:
Pie Row Maniac wrote:One thing I'll mention about the music video contest: Why can't we send in entries on CD-Rs? Is it that much difficulty to hook up a computer to the projector?
Wait, where does it say that in the rules? It says they'll accept AVIs with certain codecs and MPEGs, in addition to DVDs and SVCDs... how else are we going to send those if not on a CD-R?
All I know is that in the rules it says this:

Acceptable Authored Media Formats: DVD±R/RW, S-VCD

So I would assume CD-Rs and CD-RWs are not accepted.

Ah, but it also says this:

Acceptable Digital Media Formats: Video Codecs (in order of preference): HuffYUV, Uncompressed, DV, MPEG-4 (Xvid/DivX), MPEG-2, MPEG-1; Audio Codecs (in order of preference): PCM, Fixed Bitrate MP3 or MP2; For other codecs, please email your request to amv@sakuracon.org.

So how would one submit a video using, for instance, HuffYUV, besides on a CD-R?