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Poster: Scott Saunders Date: Sep 7, 2009 5:30pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

Bill,

Can I call you Bill?

The movies that I use for ACM were either pre-existing at the AI that I would download (usually the MEPG2) version, and re-encode as MPEG4. Then re-upload them to the AI. I can do the de-interlacing and dual pass encodea that the AI can't do due to the volume of content they have to encode. I do that because I can get better get better quality out of an MEPG4 H.264 encoded from it's parent MPEG2 by de-interlacing and de-noising the signal and other stuff that involves witchcraft, and the occasional animal sacrifice, I find that goats work best.

I also find better prints than the ones available at the AI. "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon", and the "39 Steps" are an example of better prints I found that I encoded and uploade to the AI.

http://www.archive.org/details/secret_weapon
http://www.archive.org/details/the39steps_ipod

I've also uploaded the original version of movies like "My Man Godfrey" (which I need to re-encode) ,

http://www.archive.org/details/my_man_godfrey

some of the "Lum and Abner" movies, and almost all of the serials.

So in a really long answer to your question. I use the AI to host the movies for my podcast... but only if I've encoded, or re-encoded, and then uploaded or re-uploaded them.

Oh and one other thing while I'm thinking about it. I also upload three additional files an HTML, SWF, and SML. Those make up a flash based movie player I made, and that lets me make stuff like the "Zorro Rides Again" player that I've linked to below.

http://archiveclassicmovies.com/zorro_rides_again/

So if I'm honest. the AI and ACM are combination of big playground and media lab for me.

Sorry for the long windedness of my reply, I'm sure the answer to your question is in there somewhere.
Scott

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Poster: Jeff Kaplan Date: Jul 9, 2011 10:12pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

hi scott, just went over to your site. nice looking site it is. when i went to play movies the links to the archive.org file was broken because they are server specific and not permalinked. just thought you might want to know that.

jeff

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Poster: billbarstad Date: Sep 7, 2009 6:34pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

Well thanks for the answer and other info. I do some of that voodoo you mention, too, before uploading. And yes, you can call me Bill.

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Poster: guyzilla Date: Sep 7, 2009 9:10pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

Wow, I gotta say that though this stuff is a bit above and beyond my simple knowlege, I have to say I find this stuff very interesting. I have no idea what interlacing is so I hope you can give me the "explanation for dummies". The material I upload is taken from old vhs copies I have in my collection that I've transferred to dvd-r, then I convert it to DivX with DivX Author. Billbarstad has often noted in his reviews of my uploads the video quality, good, bad, or otherwise. The fact is, when he noted on one upload that the video quality was poor, truth to tell, I wasn't too crazy about it either. The source material wasn't that great to begin with. I only know how to upload the source material. If I knew a way to improve on it, I'd go for it. I sure would like to learn more about converting video files as I know I'm far from being an expert.

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Poster: fedupwithgarbage Date: Sep 11, 2009 11:04am
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

guyzilla:

I, for one, appreciate your honesty in admitting that you are confused about how to make sure that your uploads are of the best quality that you could possibly do. As a lot of the videos here at IA demonstrate, many do not care. They just want to be the "first" to haphazardly put something up and are not concerned with quality. Others have a "Let them eat cake!" mentality and just want to throw the menial masses some crumbs. It's refreshing to see that Scott Saunders does not fall into either of those categories. You can tell that he actually cares about the quality of his uploads. (Even though I'm not a big fan of MP4's.)

As Scott says, the processes involved in creating a good quality video are complicated. However, it's not impossible if one takes the time to do a little research beforehand.

Many years ago, I started reading at a website now called videohelp.com (back then they were vcdhelp.com). They have some great, in depth, step-by-step, tutorials on ripping, capturing, and converting video using a wide variety of different software and hardware. You will find that a lot of it is trial and error. Sometimes the software and/or the hardware gets it wrong. It's important that you be able to spot this and try something different.

Good luck and looking forward to great videos from you.

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Poster: skybandit Date: Sep 11, 2009 11:59pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

Thanks for the info. I'll be trying my first upload soon. Wish me luck.

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Poster: billbarstad Date: Oct 17, 2009 4:29pm
Forum: feature_films Subject: Re: Movie Serials At The Internet Archive

A late response, but I just saw your post:

I hope that you realize when I review any movie here - not just yours, what I say about video quality is meant to let people know what to expect before they download. I make a point not to criticize the contributor, unlike some reviewers. Those of us who post movies here are making a selfless act and, generally speaking, do the best we can with the materials and software we have. And, yeah, video encoding has a learning curve. Took me many months to get good at it, but I wasn't doing it that often, either. I've re-uploaded movies to provide better quality after having learned more. I wish I had the time and bandwidth to re-encode and re-upload some others. I'm glad you have been able to contribute movies (especially the hilarious 'The Eye Creatures' - oh yes, I said it!), and I hope you can continue to contribute.

I'm guessing that you use a Windows machine, so I can't help you with tips and the like.

Interlacing was created to display video on CRTs and minimize the number of frames broadcast. Interlacing refers to a common method for painting a video image on a display by displaying each line or row of pixels. This technique uses two fields to create a frame. One field contains all the odd lines in the image, the other contains all the even lines of the image. what you get when you rip a interlaced movie is horizontal lines appearing in the video, especially noticeable during motion. I use a program that allows for de-interlacing, which slows encoding. You don't always know if your source material is interlaced, so it's trial and error or always choosing de-interlacing during encoding.

Dual pass encoding is great for getting high video quality at a lower (1500kbps or below) bitrate. A lower bitrate often yields a smaller file.

The H-264 MPEG4 video codec is, in my opinion, currently the best for quality and small size, but requires more computing power, thus taking longer that other MPEG4 codecs.