Author Topic: New Forum Poll - Please Participate! (Read 5831 times)

Jonnyboy117 · « **on:** June 08, 2004, 11:48:49 AM »

I know we haven't used the poll feature very much in the past, but I'm going to try it again to gather some feedback, and I may use it more frequently if things go well this time around. Here's a handy link to the new poll about movie downloads on PGC:

Please vote in the new poll!

You must be registered in the forums to vote.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #1 on:** June 08, 2004, 11:57:00 AM »

At the time I voted I made up 50% of the voting. WHEEE!

I chose the second option but that doesn't perfectly fit my opinion on the movies. I didn't download the last few movies because they contained potential spoilers I didn't want to see. But the only time I ever really download game videos from the net is when a game is first shown and I want to see everything (Zelda video from E3 for example). After that I try to look at less screenshots and virtually no movies to keep the experience fresh. Though I think I'm pretty unique so I certainly wouldn't base any decisions regarding movies on my opinion.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #2 on:** June 08, 2004, 12:21:17 PM »

I've downloaded a lot of movies recently but not all of them have worked. The screw attack video worked (thank god

), but a lot of the E3 videos, the Zelda trailer in particular, just plain crashed my computer.

Termin8Anakin · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2004, 01:25:02 PM »

The videos didn't work for me when I downloaded them cause my computer is just plain sucky when it comes to playing AVIs and DivX encoded movies =/
I could hear the sound and I could here someone going 'loooook cooool' when Samus was apparently doing the screw attack but i couldn't see it!

I want more movies

EDIT: I have the codecs, by the way. So I know i need a new comp cause it's so slow >__>

Infernal Monkey · « **Reply #4 on:** June 08, 2004, 04:07:21 PM »

Why don't you download and watch them on the PC's at Uni, Termin8?

BigJim · « **Reply #5 on:** June 08, 2004, 05:24:24 PM »

As long as the divx files don't have mistakes like uncompressed audio that makes the file 4x the size they should be (E3 vids) they're great.

A longstanding wish of mine is to see PGC do a weekly audio program covering what's happening in video games. It doesn't have to be streamed live, and it can be done easily over the phone with some software. Just get 2 or 3 staff members together. It'd be a cool (and fairly unique) way to spice things up.

Squiggles the Chao · « **Reply #6 on:** June 08, 2004, 06:55:12 PM »

The formats of the videos bug me the most. I really wish that PGC would try to stick to formats that work well on all systems, like mpeg or mov, and stay away from those which don't or are generally buggy.

WMP is the biggest no-no in my book. It technically works on othr platforms, but very slowly. And because of this, the audio gets off sync. It also seems that WMP files need a higher filesize to maintain the same quality as other formats. DiVX is another almost universal codec for video files, and plays just fine on my computer (an imac from 1999 wit MacOS 8.6), but there are those who have problems with it.

MPEG is the most universally-stable format, but its file size is a lot larger that Quicktime for the same quality. Quicktime works well enough on both systems. My friend's Windows 98 machine handles Quicktime files about as well as my iMac does, so I would expect that current-generation Windows machines will have no problem with it.

TheYoungerPlumber · « **Reply #7 on:** June 09, 2004, 12:11:14 AM »

Quote
A longstanding wish of mine is to see PGC do a weekly audio program covering what's happening in video games. It doesn't have to be streamed live, and it can be done easily over the phone with some software. Just get 2 or 3 staff members together. It'd be a cool (and fairly unique) way to spice things up.

Hmmm, this intrigues me... before my time PGC had a feature known as "Blah Blah Blah," and every once in a while there is talk of reviving it. "Blah Blah Audio" is an interesting idea.

I've looked into technologies for recording phone calls via a modem, and since I don't have a voice Fax modem, I'd need some special phone line spliter + audio converter they sell in stores for $20 or so. I dunno about conference call prices, but surely a cheap-ish solution could be found through interweb phone services.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #8 on:** June 09, 2004, 01:28:45 AM »

Quicktime doesn't support fullscreen display and the player in itself sucks (and the format won't play back in BSPlayer and the like). DivX wasn't designed for streaming and therefore does a better job with downloaded videos.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 09, 2004, 05:17:56 PM »

I'm very biased against Quicktime, for the reasons KDR has already mentioned. It works, but I just hate the player and the format and everything. For instance, if you embed the Quicktime file in a web page, it's almost impossible to permanently download the file to watch later. The player doesn't include a "Save Target As" type of function. It drives me nuts looking through Temporary Internet Files and/or the page source code to try to find the actual file for later viewing.

Windows Media is actually very efficient in terms of file size, but I'm well aware of its compatibility issues. MPEG is way too big for us to use; anyone on dialup would be left completely in the cold.

We host movies in the format we receive them, which is why some movies are Quicktime, others are WMV, etc. But whenever I'm encoding movies myself for PGC, I use DivX. So far I have not messed with audio compression, but now that I'm feeling pretty confident with the video setup, I'll look into it. This is all very new for me; I knew jack about video editing two weeks ago, so I feel like I'm doing pretty well so far.

NinGurl69 *huggles · « **Reply #10 on:** June 09, 2004, 06:22:57 PM »

If you've got audio/video compression questions, feel free to ask. I just hope you don't use Adobe Premiere for *everything*, especially DivX exporting.

Bloodworth · « **Reply #11 on:** June 09, 2004, 11:41:47 PM »

Yeah, our E3 snafus have really lit a fire to get the videos back up to par.

BigJim · « **Reply #12 on:** June 10, 2004, 02:01:59 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: TheYoungerPlumber
Quote
A longstanding wish of mine is to see PGC do a weekly audio program covering what's happening in video games. It doesn't have to be streamed live, and it can be done easily over the phone with some software. Just get 2 or 3 staff members together. It'd be a cool (and fairly unique) way to spice things up.

Hmmm, this intrigues me... before my time PGC had a feature known as "Blah Blah Blah," and every once in a while there is talk of reviving it. "Blah Blah Audio" is an interesting idea.

I've looked into technologies for recording phone calls via a modem, and since I don't have a voice Fax modem, I'd need some special phone line spliter + audio converter they sell in stores for $20 or so. I dunno about conference call prices, but surely a cheap-ish solution could be found through interweb phone services.

Or just buy a cheap-ass data/fax/voice modem for 8 bucks Here.

I'm a Vonage customer... recommended to anybody with a broadband connection. 500 minutes a month for $15, and $30/mo for unlimited long distance. Works just like the regular phone system, sounds just as good, and supports all standard phone features, including 3-way. This should work in theory with the regular modem as long as the phone connection is: Line from Wall > Vonage box > modem > phone.

Or hell, I'm already tricked out. Want a show host? PM me! LOL.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #13 on:** June 10, 2004, 12:49:44 PM »

i voted the last option... "The downloads do not work for me."

i'm using Firefox 0.8 on a Win XP Pro machine, and upon clicking on the download link, i get a save download to save the actual PHP file. Same with the latest Mozilla. Sure, i *could* use IE, but i've gotten to the point now where if i won't open in Firefox, i won't open it, unless it's something like my bank, which works well with Firefox. i usually know of a couple of places to get videos from, so i check them first since PGC's downloads don't work well with Firefox. Of course, it's nothing personal. i just don't have the time, patience, or interests to switch browsers for one site, unless it's something *really* good or exclusive (like PGC interviews or rumors).

On the plus side, another congratulations on PGC Pocket. i haven't used it in about a month (i moved again...) but last i used it it works great. i use Plucker (www.plkr.org) to sync and it works great. If it wasn't for PGC Pocket, i'd hardly be browsing the main site anymore.

Squiggles the Chao · « **Reply #14 on:** June 10, 2004, 01:17:54 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
I'm very biased against Quicktime, for the reasons KDR has already mentioned. It works, but I just hate the player and the format and everything. For instance, if you embed the Quicktime file in a web page, it's almost impossible to permanently download the file to watch later. The player doesn't include a "Save Target As" type of function. It drives me nuts looking through Temporary Internet Files and/or the page source code to try to find the actual file for later viewing.

It actually does have such a function: http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Cupertino/6324/saveas.png

It can also support Full Screen Playback: http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Cupertino/6324/fullscreen.png

I'm all for DiVX too. It's a great technolagy, it's just that some people have trouble with it.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #15 on:** June 10, 2004, 09:58:38 PM »

Squiggles: Neither pic shows, but those are features only included in the PRO version, while they are standard with free players.

aoi: Try the MIME editor. Opera downloaded PHP files for me until I told it that PHP is supposed to be shown in the browser.

Squiggles the Chao · « **Reply #16 on:** June 11, 2004, 10:29:32 AM »

Pictures are working fine for me. Anyway, yes, fullscreen is PRO version only. However, "Save as Source" is a feature of the free player.

evil intentions · « **Reply #17 on:** June 11, 2004, 12:58:19 PM »

I've viewed some E3 videos but that was about it.

nitsu niflheim · « **Reply #18 on:** June 14, 2004, 10:41:23 AM »

for me it was the last option, I am on dialup and it just takes too long to download the videos you post, everything is too large.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 17, 2004, 03:32:19 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: aoi tsuki
i voted the last option... "The downloads do not work for me."

i'm using Firefox 0.8 on a Win XP Pro machine, and upon clicking on the download link, i get a save download to save the actual PHP file. Same with the latest Mozilla. Sure, i *could* use IE, but i've gotten to the point now where if i won't open in Firefox, i won't open it, unless it's something like my bank, which works well with Firefox.

I'm using Firefox as well, and the downloads work fine for me. Actually, they work BETTER, because the auto-download actually works in Firefox, whereas in IE I always had to click the file link.

News:

Author Topic: New Forum Poll - Please Participate! (Read 5831 times)