Rendering Options General Question for home movies

[Graham Bernard]

It’s a great posting! I think you have kinda answered your own question?

You understand your business. Making a DVD from “all types” of media is a one way street. Once it is on DVD, a very lossy format, we are kinda done. And I presume you don’t hold any media back? So it is the final offering . . .

My approach to clients is to ASK them what they want to do with the “archived” material when they get it back from me.

Do they want to:-

1/- Further Edit?

2/- Show it on high holidays: Christmas; Diwali; Eid; Pesach. . (sub your own!)?

3/- Have it available in many and different “Broadcast” options now amazingly available to us all?

It would seem you’re in a quandary as to how much responsibility you need to be putting yourself under – yeah?

Point in case with my last client:

“We want a DVD” I did it, he got it.

“We want to Edit it for another audience” I had both i)the original media PLUS ii)a Lagarith Lossless AVI. I needed both ‘cos he wanted to get back at the original Text in the Text Plates and make other changes. I did it and he got it.

“We want to broadcast this over a UK-wide Intranet” – I spoke with the Techies and I produced a further 5 renderings to fit their kit. I did it, they got. Client happy.

. . and another, a 15 month project:

“We want the final Video on DVD AND in a lossless format” I did both. It is in Lagarith AVI and he got it on a portable hard-drive. It was part of the contract and I delivered exactly what he asked for. ISSUE: Lagarith doesn’t play on a MAC – now what? – In everything that is digital I asked him: “You DO have a record and archive of this Project, it is the DVD?

He: “Oh, can I use that for editing? How do I get the files off of it?”

Me: “In the same way I used your 50 year old footage off of the the last DVD you had made for the celebrations 8 years ago! Was the quality ok for you?”

He “Oh, I see. Then maybe we don’t need to ……”

Do you see where I’m coming from? Once he had realised that ALTHOUGH it was a DVD, and that same MPEG2 was able to be extracted and used in his 2012 project, and he and the organisation were very happy with the results, he could feel ok about what he had got. But he needed to experience the wrangles and unnecessary hoops that could happen. In the end, he is getting to a pragmatic view that it is done; he has a Lagarith Lossless which WILL be viable as long as PCs and Lagarith and so on are available and none of us know what will be available in the future. . . .

Now, having had this experience, my advice would be to have a simple questionnaire ready for your “clients” to answer. And at every CHOICE have a price point – that will kinda narrow it down for them – Lol!

OK, let sanity prevail: We are in much Format Turmoil-Angst – it will pass . . . but until that time we all need to be extra carefully CLEAR and transparent with the clients. Much hand-holding is needed, however, rely on them to make a final decision, but do have that final decision signed-off by them, with a signature. Oh yes.

HTH

Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 and two elderly XM2s

[Linda O’connell]

Thank you for your reply. It seems like yes we both are on the same page and I am providing people with what they need and in the correct format.
I get a lot of people who say, “Can I just edit this?” “Have you ever edited before?” “No.” Makes me nervous that I will hand them 30 hours of video on a hard drive and they have no idea how to do it and who knows what their computer capability is. They also have no idea how much time it will take. I usually then put it on both a DVD and the hard drive.

Have you done anything with online video storage? If so what format would you suggest that be in? MP4? Or is that just too much of a quality loss? And is there a certain company you are using for online video storage?

[Graham Bernard]

[Linda O'Connell] “Have you done anything with online video storage?

Online I use for Client approval; Client EDL creation to a Spreadsheet. For this I now use a combo of, and mainly MP4 – VP is darn good at chucking this out, or WMV.

[Linda O'Connell] “Or is that just too much of a quality loss?”

Again, it’s that bit about WHAT your/my client is expecting, or even NEEDS!.

[Linda O'Connell] “And is there a certain company you are using for online video storage?”

My needs do not extend that far: I shoot>I edit>I pass for Client Approval > I re-edit for Client approval. I use DropBox and it is perfect for me.

Now, I have to ask, where in your WorkFlow would you require a Company to “host” your GBs?

G

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 and two elderly XM2s

[John Rofrano]

[Linda O'Connell] “I have been, and I am not sure if this would be correct, if they want to edit: giving them avi files, if they want just for storage: MPEG 2 files. “

I assume that these “Home Movies” are Standard Definition? I further assume that you are capturing them with a professional device like a Canopus ADVC 300 that captures DV AVI files. If so, I would simply give them the original DV AVI files for those who want to edit, and just make a DVD for the rest. DV is 13GB/hr so 30 hrs of DV is 390GB in size and will easily fit on an external 500GB USB hard drive which cost around $59 USD.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Linda O’connell]

John- Yes Standard Def & Yes using a Canopus
Thanks for reinforcing what I am doing.

Graham- People are asking if I offer online video storage or if I can upload to the cloud so they can store them there. Keep in mind people when they are asking have no idea of how long it would take to upload or how big the file is. They assume it’s no different then uploading a picture. I have said no I don’t offer that but I think I need to offer some option for it.

[Graham Bernard]

[Linda O'Connell] “They assume it’s no different then uploading a picture. I have said no I don’t offer that but I think I need to offer some option for it.”

Quite. It is not easy, and it is left to us, Content Providers or Content Suppliers to come up with solutions.

Hmmm….?

Maybe a short questionnaire would suffice. For you it could:-

1/- Demonstrate your wish to be able to comply with their “wants”.

2/- Indicate what is on offer.

3/- Allow them to make the most appropriate decision – for them.

The Questionnaire could be along the lines of:

1/- Do you want this material available 24/7?

2/- What age range would be accessing this material?

3/- Would everybody have access to the INTERNET? What Speed are they on?

4/- What level of resolution do they want? Here Reso=Size! Maybe they are unaware of this . . . ?

5/- How much would you be willing to pay for storage? Per Month? Per Year Per Decade?

6/- When would agree that the material could be removed, forever? One Month? One Year? Decade?

Of course the list is potentially massive, but if you “shaped” it in a friendly way it would assist both yourself and your client/s to get a way forward.

OK, morbidity alert: Recently I had to clear my late Father’s residence. I threw, yes threw as in dumped some 40 years of 8mm sprocket video and maybe 30+ years of VHS stuff. I felt guilty. But looking at some of the material, most of the people had died and those that are still alive don’t remember and mostly a few bits would be good to save and move on. The truth is that I just don’t have enough time to plough through ALL the material, edit and save it. And then, for what? – I put this, what is really sad, story for you so you can kinda gauge what is meant by “hanging-on”. I may not be professional about sharing that here, on the COW, it is about engaging the emotional vector in this “holding-on” process. Sometimes it just ain’t economic or healthy to do so?

OK, I hope the “list” above helps, along with the reasoning behind it. I have run several businesses, and needing to get to “yes” is important. Wanting to get to “no” also has its benefits.

Best regards

Graham “Grazie” Bernard

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 and two elderly XM2s

[Donald Gibson]

Hay, just read your post I have some 8mm video. I would like to capture it to a hard drive or a CD. I have a number of People asking me to do the same for them. I would want to edit it. I have Vegas Pro 8. Therefore I have a question or two
1: What type or kind of equipment would I need to buy? I don’t have an 8mm projector.
2: How much would this piece of equipment cost? Where can I look at it on line?
3: If it is beyond my means, what is the cost of having someone do it for me?
Thanks in advance I do appreciate you fellows taking care of us.
Don

[Mike Kujbida]

[donald gibson] “1: What type or kind of equipment would I need to buy? I don’t have an 8mm projector.
2: How much would this piece of equipment cost? Where can I look at it on line?
3: If it is beyond my means, what is the cost of having someone do it for me?”

The biggest problem is that good projectors are no longer being made so used is the only market available. Due to the age of most of it, I question whether any of it is still reliable.
There are a wide variety of places offering this service, ranging from “mom & pop” shops to places like Costco and Walgreen to high end places.
If the footage is important to you, the only place I recommend (he’s not cheap but he is very good) is MovieStuff.
https://www.moviestuff.tv/moviestuff_home.html
He will sell you the equipment to do it yourself or have you send the footage in for a transfer at his place.

[Linda O’connell]

Hi, I use the equipment from Movie Stuff like Mike specified above. He no longer does transfer work only will sell you the equipment. The equipment is very good, however, the software is quite out of date and you need to be careful to make sure what you have is compatible. I don’t think they are compatible with Windows 7 yet or even 64 bit.

If you need your movies transferred I would be happy to help you. My website is: https://www.take5productions.net/ReeltoReelPrices.html

Thanks!

[Donald Gibson]

Thank you mike. II will check it out. Thank you.