ECAC Championship game...on DVD!

[Marty Lessmeister \'02]

Last night, I authored a preliminary version of the ECAC finals on DVD.  I left the process running overnight (video conversion, burning of +RW disc, etc.).  Needless to say, I was giddy like a little schoolgirl when I popped the disc into my set-top player this morning.  For me, there was no better way to start the day than to see the menu pop up on the TV and hear our fight song in the background...**)

This is approximately how I have the chapters set up:
1. Pre-game / Introductions
2. First Period
3. First Period Intermission
4. Second Period
5. Second Period Intermission
6. Third Period
7. Third Period Intermission
8. Overtime Period / Post-game
["extra"]  9.  ECAC Players Commercial
["extra"] 10.  CU Athletics Commercial
["extra"] 11.  CU Bear Commercial
Note: all other commercials have been removed from the video.

The video quality is "watchable" but could definitely use some improvement.  I had to work with files provided to me by a friend, who [mistakenly] encoded the cable broadcast in mpeg1 format.  The files only take up about 3.2GB total, whereas a recordable disc allows up to about 4.5GB.  It's a shame, because the quality of his reception for YES is very good.  

There are several things I'd like to do for the next version:
1.  Reencode the video from the cleanest source possible (e.g. SP VHS of the satellite feed)
2.  Design a customized background for the menu system (although the current template menu looks pretty cool too)
3.  Get some digital photographs of the game/audience/Pepsi Arena from people who were there, for use in a "slide show" type feature.
4.  Get slightly higher-quality band recordings (e.g. from the Live at Lynah Brown/Harvard CD).  The 2 songs I downloaded are good quality (112kbps) but there's always room for improvement!
5.  Design covers/inserts for the DVD disc/case.

Would anyone be interested in helping me with this project?  I know I'm probably crossing the line of legality by doing this, but this is strictly a labor of love.  I DO have most of the equipment I need (save a very high quality VCR), but I DON'T really have the capacity to produce these DVD's in numbers that would satisfy everyone who wants a copy.  So I would need help there too.

Also, if anyone is interested, I can post some screenshots of the DVD menus as they look right now when I get home from work.

LGR!
-M

AIM: MestoMix

[CowbellGuy]

Well, I was going to work on my own version. Probably get started on it sometime next week. What was your video source? Mine will be all digital (satellite->TiVo->DV Bridge->DV).

[Marty Lessmeister \'02]

Analogue cable (TimeWarner Ithaca) --> capture card on computer

[A-19]

i have a ton of pics from the crowd and fanfest, as well as the live @ lynah cd if that helps. no dvd burner tho

-mike

[Jim Hyla]

Marty, Darren Leung and I started this on another post. Age probably has the best source material, and remember these are not for sale, Darren and I were making them for a few of our closest friends.

[CU at Stanford]

Jim and Marty:
I hope I am one of your friends....:-)

[Section A]

Um....me.....too...... ::uhoh::

(It's okay, I'll get over it )

[Leung \'96]

Doh! How were you able to get yours to come out so quick?!
I've spent the past 2 nights fighting with Ulead Video Studio and waiting for the encoding only to have to re-do!

If you guys are gonna set up DVD copies for other folks, that could save me some SERIOUS time churning my VCD's out.

(analog encoded off of VHS SP taping from YES at 1.498Mb/s)

[marty]

[Q]Doh! How were you able to get yours to come out so quick?!
I've spent the past 2 nights fighting with Ulead Video Studio and waiting for the encoding only to have to re-do![/Q]

Yes, same question here.  I haven't tried to convert the game but I have had trouble with Ulead products being counter-intuitive.  What software did you use to make the conversion Marty?

[CowbellGuy]

For the record, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Serves you right for using Windows. My dual G4/450 does MPEG-2 video encoding at better than realtime and AC-3 audio at about 5x realtime.

[Marty Lessmeister \'02]

Marty,

I tried out ULEAD DVD MovieFactory for a few days and thought it was HORRIBLE (can't import your own source material, has to be captured from an input device to the program).  But the other night I gave the free 30-day demo of ULEAD DVD Workshop a go and it worked great (I used it to burn the first version of the DVD).  

It only took an hour or two to convert the files for DVD use (mpeg2) and then burn them.  The speed does partly depend on the source material you're working with, though...and obviously your hardware.  In my case I had to work with mpeg1 files, which suffer a great deal from blocky artifacts often seen in lower-quality video...so I'm hoping I can find some better source material before I go any further with this.

Marty

[marty]

I saw that one coming, Age.

[Jim Hyla]

Can we stop or retitle this discussion, till our friends are ready?:-P