(4:06 AM CST) Grrrrrrr.....
Okay, that's it, it's time for some serious ranting.

What the HELL do people do when they compress video??? I mean, almost every single video that's been uploaded so far has been about the average size that mine are (~10mb/min), but the quality just SUCKS, in one way or another.

Oh, before I continue, I'm really happy that you guys uploaded those videos - I'm bitching at the people who MADE them. Please continue to upload if you find them, and if I happen to capture the same video, I'll replace it if necessary.

Okay, back to the ranting. Take the Britney Spears video. Oliver was kind enough to upload it to the FTP site...looked like it should've been pretty decent, it was encoded in MPEG, was around 38.6 megs in size, etc. These are normally Good Signs. Play it back, and the first thing I thought was wrong was that there was a lot of noise at the beginning of the video (later I found out that the noise was a part of the video, but a part that I disliked enough to remove in the version I released). Anyway, it looked and sounded like most MPEG videos that I've come across...29.97 frames per second (tv smoothness, good thing), but the audio was just really lacking. I didn't notice quite how crappy the audio was until I happened to record the same video a couple of hours ago and digitize it. The audio is just a LOT better, and all I had to do was give a bit of mouse service to Cool Edit Pro. Normalize, noise reduction, silence out intro and endings, properly fade in and out, Ta-da! You have a good audio track. Stick the new audio track in Premiere, encode, and that's it.

So why am I ranting? Because I'm a total newbie to the world of video editing and digital compression. I don't know much about it at all...and yet the guy who made the Britney Spears video did know Premiere, too. He knew enough to at least get some text scrolls in and the beginning transition (which I still wonder WHY in the WORLD he/she did that!) where the video zooms in and out really quickly. In the end, these were just little bells and whistles that didn't do a damn for the video, and represented time wasted that the person should have spent trying to make a QUALITY release. ARGH!!!! And then there are the people who make QUICKTIME videos....what the hell is up with that? Quicktime videos are the ones that end in .MOV, and are generally really grainy, and really low quality sound, but they manage to be just as big as the videos that I've made. I have a strong suspicion that these are videos made by capture-happy Mac users who just don't bother to take a look at what's out there and find the best solution.

I wish this was just restricted to music videos, since they're not exactly what most people go after (at least, I've never actually come across another site that distributes music videos that are more than 5 megs each). But most videos out there just plain suck. Good videos that I have that I didn't make myself are the Final Fantasy VIII trailer and Serial Experiments Lain opening. Both are high quality videos...but with one difference between the two. I said just now that most of my videos average around ~10mb/min. The FFVIII video is around this, which basically means that it's Good. The Serial Experiments Lain video - it's good quality, but God!!! It's 35 megs for a two minute video! They could've had the same quality for only 20 megs of space!

One of the most disappointing videos for me was the Star Wars Trailer that I have. It's around 30 megs, which doesn't seem bad until you find out that the video is only 2:20 long! It shouldn't have been more than 23 megs, at the most. And THEN, it has the nerve to have really crappy audio and video quality. I'm glad that it doesn't seem to be from LucasFilm directly...I would be really disappointed in them.

So, I need some help here. Somebody please tell me if I just have a magical combination of hardware and software that lets me make videos that are just way better than other videos at the same size. I am NOT being egotistical about this - I don't do anything more than what any sane person would do with what's available out there, which is why I just don't understand it.

Here are my guidelines if you want to make a video:
  • use MPEG
  • fix the audio! Normalize! Noise Reduce! Fade! Silence!
  • use Premiere! Use XingMPEG with the Premiere plugin! (and actually, there are probably much better MPEG encoders out there that I just don't know about. Somebody tell me if you know this to be true)
  • if the video is widescreen, crop out the stupid filler bars! They're useless! They just take up a space!
  • don't release crap, unless you know that what you got as your video source is the best available thing there is. It's like taping a song off of the radio, then recording it into your computer and making a MP3 out of it, when you could just find somebody with the CD and do a -clean- conversion of it.

If anybody knows groups that make videos, music videos or otherwise, let me know. I want to find out where all the sane people are. Or if they're releasing crap, show them the light. It's just annoying, because the only time that the kind of crap that goes on in some of these videos is acceptable is when the video has to be REALLY small, like < 5-10 megs. Crapiness is assumed. But making sh*tty 30 meg videos...grrrrrrrrr.........

(7:45 PM CST) New Policy
In light of the recent complaints about Louis' site (all from some IP just outside of Philadelphia), I think I'm going to have to make new policy on the sites that are here.

Official Stance:

Let it be known by all, that from here unto infinity, I, Nikhil, shall not interfere in the happenings of pages contained within this domain. I have an obligation to upload the sacred laws of this country into the world of baud and megabit. No person shall have their independent typings modified or censored from posting.

      Subclause 1: I have the right to ignore the above if I feel it
                        necessary for the greater good of the world. =D

(7:34 PM CST) Re: Shang's Softporn
Okay, okay...Shang's asking me to do something about those pictures. Umm...I think there's only one thing I can do.

Woohoo! Go Louis! Thank you for preserving the moment for all eternity, immortalized in a matrix of 0's and 1's. As as for me doing something, well, I think now's a good time to scan in the OTHER pictures that I have to complete the Shang Wars Saga. You thought that was it? Well, you were wrong - as many of the insiders know, there are more pictures, not quite as...say, revealing, as Louis', but still worth a raised eyebrow or two.

DAMN MIDTERMS!!!

(11:42 PM CST) You can stop now, Dean (and probably Brian, too)
Well, looks like somebody's been having fun with the Brits:

LONDON (Reuters) - Hackers have seized control of one of Britain's military communication satellites and issued blackmail threats, The Sunday Business newspaper reported.

The newspaper, quoting security sources, said the intruders altered the course of one of Britain's four satellites that are used by defense planners and military forces around the world.

The sources said the satellite's course was changed just over two weeks ago. The hackers then issued a blackmail threat, demanding money to stop interfering with the satellite.

``This is a nightmare scenario,'' said one intelligence source. Military strategists said that if Britain were to come under nuclear attack, an aggressor would first interfere with military communications systems.
Now, I know you two have been wanting to get the Anti-Epic back on its feet, but I think making it a reality might not be the best way to go about it...

(11:34 PM CST) Hey! It's almost March!
That's really weird...February just kinda blew right by. Hail and salutations, March. I greet you with open arms for the break that you will bring me in the midst of all evil (read: midterms). Now, if you could just help me out and loan a few (billion) spare neurons, or better yet, guide my pencil to the magical right answer, I would be eternally grateful...

(4:00 AM CST) The little number...
...is only how many days until I leave Austin, head back to Sugar Land for a day, and then Boeing my way up to the S people (Steve, Shang, and Sini). I just stick it up there to remind me that if I just study for the next xx days for midterms, I'll be homefree...

I would run a summer countdown, too, but it'd just be depressing. I'll start it once it gets under 60 days. Oh! And let me know whenever you're getting back for summer - I'll post a listing just for information's sake...or post it up on the public board with that oh-so-convenient link on the right. :)

I think I'm slated for May 17...

(3:23 AM CST) FTP Stats
I just checked out the statistics that WarFTPD's been quietly been gathering since I fired up the server on January 19 - nice! Now, if someone would just pay me a penny for every byte that went out...

Here it is:

Bytes Downloaded:
Bytes Uploaded:
Total Capacity:
Free Space:
41,522,661 kilobytes
5,207,116 kilobytes
21,582,577 kilobytes
1,181,614 kilobytes
Yes, that really is 41.5 gigabytes...neat, isn't it? At this rate, it should reach 120+ gigs by May 18, when I'll have to take it down for the summer. If you haven't taken a look recently, you ought to...there's actually a pretty consistent daily influx of new songs, videos, and software.

For those of you who upload, THANK YOU! You know who you are. You kept this server running on a 1/8.0 upload/download ratio, voluntarily...rare in this world of gimme's.

(6:46 PM CST) Riddle's Answer
Scroll down a bit and you'll see a riddle that I posted a couple of days ago - reproduced here:
Two cops are driving down a city street. Suddenly, they hear a women scream "John don't!!" and then they hear a gun shot from a window in a building. They jump out of the car, run up a stair well and kick open the door. They see a doctor, a lawyer, a judge and a priest. Lying on the ground is a dead women. there is a gun nearby. They immediately arrest the priest.

How did they know that the priest shot the women?
The reason, of course, is that the doctor, lawyer, and judge were women.

I bet you assumed the cops were men, too.

(6:05 PM CST) Noooooo!!!

*sigh*

Looks like it's going to be one of those years - a year where the things we've come to know and love are finally coming to an end. The first shock was the death of Gene Siskel. Now, just when I was starting to really watch it, Mystery Science Theater 3000 will be going off the air after 10 seasons of great material. The Sci-Fi channel isn't going to be renewing the contract, so another 13 episodes, and that'll be it. Only through syndication will the series live on (and it damn well better, I have a lot of catching up to do with it!). What's next, then? ICQ vanishes off the face of the earth. All computers crumble into a pile of metal, plastic, and silicon. My fish die (cue South Park lines - Oh my god, they killed Fishy! You bastards!). The Frappuccino is withdrawn from the public, as are smoothies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. TV companies conglomerate into the Teletubbie Network. We look forward to the days when Barney makes a guest appearance on the Teletubbie Network. Christmas and Summer are cancelled to make room for the 4 month festivities of the Teletubbie/Old Navy/AOL Fest.....

Prepare thyself for the future...

Updated 02/26/99:03.09A - learned how to spell Frappuccino. :)