I think it is a great idea. I just wi***he vids wern’t so choppy. But it does give you ideas on future purchases.
Joe:
I think DVD is much better. I like to watch things like this on my TV. I do not like the streaming thing. To be able to look at high quality streaming video you must have a good internet connection, not all people have that. Same for downloading, it takes a lot of time with bad connections.
And to buy a DVD and know that it is mine it’s a good feeling. Maybe I’m too old for this but I used to work as a web designer and have seen a lot of bad streaming experiments. I think the quality is the most importent thing when you deal with small details. And it’s a lot of small things in this hobby.
So a good quality DVD is the right thing for me.
i’d prefer to buy the dvd , that way i don’t have to think about backing up the downloads , or remembering my password to redownload something if i lost it .
the MR videos are not good quality , if they offered downloadable videos of the type you’re thinking of i’d be hesitant to buy them until i’d seen one somewhere .
the sample video on your mymemoirs site works fine for me , no darkness problems at all . i wasn’t impressed with the MPEG4 clip , there was no video at all , just a zoom in on a still shot . i’ll need real video to form an opinion on it’s quality
I don’t even try to stream them, I right-click and save-as. Still no go on Kalmbach. Your samples work fine. I’m not a fan of low-res video, so I just download the high res ones. Or wait until the entire thing has loaded before attempting to play, and it works fine. I have no issues downloading huge files elsewhere, either - giant service pack updates for my computers or programmign environments, stuff liekt hat. It just takes a while. Which is why I continue to say the issue is with Kalmbach’s web site, not me.
–Randy
ereimer:
You’re right about the MPEG4 clip … we need to do a video one as well.
However, it impressed me because a slow zoom on a still usually creates video ripple artifacts and there are NONE … smooth as silk. That’s HARD to do with compressed video. I guess you have to know something about the biz to be impressed. But full video looks equally nice … will have to post a short piece and have any of you who are interested tell me what you think.
Joe,
I looked at the video of you & Rick, and if anything there may be too much light. The subjects(you & Rick) are fine, but the background along the backdrop behind you is a little washed out and behind Rick almost invisible. The under layout part was fine. I think the reason the picture of the diesel with your thumb is a little hard to see is that your thumb is so big and light compared to the diesel and the camera is adjusting to the light reflecting off your thumb making the diesel a little dark. If the diesel shell was painted a lighter color, it might be easier to see. Also, the light blub, being clear, doesn’t offer much contrast making it a little hard to see.
I downloaded the Divx player & your demo video. It took about 3 min. for the 46 seconds of viewing time, on my DSL connection. It’s a little hard to describe; seems sharper and brighter, but with no actual movement of the train, it’s hard to tell. It’s definitely better than the MR videos.
My math was messed up. I was figuring 4MB/sec. Guess it should have been 4MB/min for MPEG2.
Bob Hayes
Here’s an MPEG4 video clip that includes motion video, in case you want to see how it looks. The clip is runs almost 2 minutes (1:52) and the file is 23.7 MB, which takes 5-10 minutes to download on a broadband connection, or 1-2 hours on a dailup connection.
The original AVI is 409 MB, so the MPEG4 version is compressed 17 times! Yet the highly compressed version still plays full size and looks every bit as good as the original.
To make it more worth the download, this is the opening to my new video volume 3 (sneak peak!) …
http://mymemoirs.net/model-trains/mtv/video/TSL3/TSL3open.zip
To play this video you’ll need the DivX player from: http://www.divx.com/divx/player/
By the way, for dailup folks especially, I recommend you get and use the Internet Download Manager: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Download-Managers/Internet-Download-Manager.shtml
IDM is only $25 and with it you can schedule downloads to happen while you are away from your machine (like overnight) and if a download fails for any reason, you can resume it just where you left off. Very nice!
So if any of you are brave, you can download the above video and let me know what you think. You can take this download and burn it to CD or DVD using this software: http://www.divx.com/software/detail.php?id=54 and then watch it on your TV!
My idea is to make this sort of thing available over the internet as instantly downloadable how-to videos of 5-10 minutes in length on all kinds of model RR topics. There would be a small fee for the downloads, or you could subscribe to the entire library and watch it online if that’s what you prefer (a broadband connection would be best for online viewing).
Is there a market for this sort of thing, or should I just stick to selling DVDs?
Bob:
MPEG2 video is 40-80 MB per minute of video (so you were off by a factor of 10). MPEG4 video is 6-18 MB per minute of video, which can be up to 20 times smaller with nearly identical quality.
40 MB x 120 minutes = 4.8 GB, which is the size of your average DVD. DVD’s use MPEG2 encoding.
Regardless of quality I think their great for help in determining quality and running performance.
Fergie
Joe,
I’d prefer small videos available for download and the full set on DVD. A full sized DVD is 4GB (or 8GB for new technology). Even on a very fast connection, that’s far too long of a wait. Ive downloaded CDs for work and it usually takes over two hours on a decent connection (cable modem). If I were to download a DVD, I’d just rip it to hard media anyway. I don’t need 4GB files laying around on my computer.
0.02.
-Tom
Tom:
I completely agree with you on the MPEG2 DVD format. 5 gigs of download would be unbearable, even on broadband.
That’s what’s so great about MPEG4. A video of DVD quality will fit in a 600 MB download – then can be burned to a DVD so you can watch it on your TV with virtually no discernable quality loss.
Plus I envision 5-10 minute clips that you cherry pick and download only the segments you want. That means the typical download would be about 50 MB or so. With the Internet Download Manager, you could pick the clips you want to download, and let it run overnight, even on a dailup connection. If the download dies for any reason, just restart it where it left off.
Sorry Joe, but I can’t get the TSL3 video clip to play. Windows media player returns an error, and it won’t play in the DVD player attached to the TV, although I can see that something was burned to the CD. By the way, download time was 5 min.
Bob Hayes
Bob:
The TSL3 video clip will not play without the MPEG4 codec from DivX.
The easiest way to get the DivX codec is to download and install the free DivX Player: http://www.divx.com/divx/player/
Without the MPEG4 codec, you’ll get nothing except maybe the sound.
Joe - quick download over a wireless internet connection (cable). Worked well after I downloaded the codec (that was fast too).
Seems with stuff like this, it’s almost only useful to those with a fast internet connection. My wife (one room away) can’t really download anything using a dial up connection. We’re going to have to bite the bullet and get a 2nd computer with wireless internet - easier than upgrading an old computer to a cable modem, sadly.
Not to criticize, just to let you know downloading anything of any substantial size with dialup is definately a pain in the neck.
Nice superelevation.
What are you using to generate the sounds of the cars wheels going “clackety clack”, etc. That isn’t DCC sound is it? Do you have some recorded sounds or something?
CARRfan:
For select beauty shots, we dub in prototype sounds. Be nice if we could get DCC sound to do that … but we’re not there – yet. I think it will get here eventually.
For the sound decoder demonstrations elsewhere in this video volume, you get the real sound recorded off the layout. The full DVD, which demos all kinds of DVD tips and tricks, should be out in the first half of July.
Joe,
I would prefer the DVD. I have older equipment and can barely get the MR video to run. I’m thinking that video online is the next wave, but a few years out. The quality needs to improve, I need new gear, and the download time has to be shorter before I would consider paying for it . I get very impatient with down loads personally (I have DSL) and I would prefer to have the info in a DVD format.
I’ not sure how many guys would subscribe to an online service vs buying the DVD. Everything on line is supposed to be free…Right.
Trainnut:
I don’t know how many people are buying the PDF downloads from MR – but if that’s getting any traction, there probably would be traction for online video how-tos as well.
Most people on here have been pretty down-in-the-mouth about the PDFs, and any research I’ve seen shows PDF downloads do okay, but the numbers are much smaller than print media. The same’s probably true of DVDs versus online streaming or downloads.
Still, the instant gratification angle is worth something …
i just downloaded and watched the TSL3 clip and it looks pretty good . i could see downloading a 5-10 minute video if i wanted to see it right away , without waiting for shipping and customs up here
Joe,
You realize I was joking with the free thing… Just poking gentle fun
Trainnut:
I knew you were joking [:D] … but there is a grain of truth to your joke. People expect many things online to be free.
The dream would be to have vendor infomercials and ads on a how-to video site and the content itself could be free – supported totally by ads.
But then lots of ads and popups, etc can get annoying … and I don’t think there’s enough ad business online to support such a site. At least not until online video matures more.