Are there really "candid shots" on the TAM4 DVDs?

[Wowbagger]

I just got my TAM4 DVDs in the mail today. I was just breezing through a bit of each segment on each disc, just to make sure they are in working order. (They are, as far as I can tell). I haven't watched the whole thing yet, of course.

However, I could not seem to find the "Candid shots throughout the conference" advertised in its promotion.

Of course, the speeches are the important thing. Candid footage would not really be very important. But, if I am on there, somewhere, I'd just like to know.

So, where are the "candid shots", if any, on the discs?

[Antiquehunter]

There is a hidden track of the 'Skepchicks gone Wild' photo shoot taken at the forum party... You haven't found that yet?

[RSLancastr]

Sadly, there are no "candid shots." Not sure what happened.

[Wowbagger]

Sadly, there are no "candid shots." Not sure what happened.
That leads me to another question:
Why aren't the paper presentations on the discs?

I was hoping to see Lancaster's speech. I missed most of it live. :(

[kittynh]

hmmm, someone told me I'm one of the TAM videos, but I asked questions at TAM2 and 3.

I haven't ordered yet, but I wish they had the papers ....

[RSLancastr]

That leads me to another question:
Why aren't the paper presentations on the discs?As I understand it, the original plan was to have the paper presentations on the DVDs, but once they realized that it was already a 6-DVD set without them, they decided to leave off the papers.

It is evidently now the plan to release the audio of the paper presentations on a separate CD. It would be nice had they decided to put them - video and all - all on a separate 2-DVD set, but I'm guessing that


They don't know if there is a market for them sufficient to justify the expense of making them.
Their experience with creating the TAM4 DVDs wasn't exactly a smooth one anyway.

[tkingdoll]

Be honest, RSL, they had to leave off the disc of the papers because the 6th disc is 'The Tkingdoll Show' - three hours of me talking about Star Trek and my theories about theme tunes.

[kittynh]

well, you were topless while speaking on the subject. I think it would boost sales.

[SkepticScott]

(snip)Star Trek and my theories about theme tunes.And where does this Monty Python/Star Trek piece fit in to your theories? http://www.devilducky.com/media/48608/
:D

[RSLancastr]

well, you were topless while speaking on the subject. I think it would boost sales.I hope you're talking to Teek... :boggled:

[kittynh]

you know Mr. StopKaz, if you had worn some clothing of some sort while giving your talk, it might have made the DVD. But that Xrating is the kiss of death for any film. And I do know you needed the nudity for your graphic depictions of how you really feel about KAZ.

[DrCron]

Hmm, perhaps compression technology should be used here, Mpeg-2 is nice and all, but cramming this down to fewer dvds, esp. with the new players not costing much (for those without a computer) should offset the time put into compression. That, or see if JREF can be one of the earliest non MSM (to quote the CTers) to get in on the google video sales. It would also kick much rear for the older ones to end up on google video for free.

[kittynh]

you should email or PM Jeff Wagg about this!

[RSLancastr]

you know Mr. StopKaz, if you had worn some clothing of some sort while giving your talk, it might have made the DVD.Or at least the news.

And I do know you needed the nudity for your graphic depictions of how you really feel about KAZ.Eeewwww...

[Wowbagger]

As I understand it, the original plan was to have the paper presentations on the DVDs, but once they realized that it was already a 6-DVD set without them, they decided to leave off the papers.

It is evidently now the plan to release the audio of the paper presentations on a separate CD.
They could have fit twice as much on those six DVDs, if they went with 8+ GB discs, instead of 4.7 GB discs.

Hearing the papers on audio just isn't the same. How difficult could it be to run off a bunch of copies of the paper videos?

[El_Spectre]

They could have fit twice as much on those six DVDs, if they went with 8+ GB discs, instead of 4.7 GB discs.

Yeah, but then you get into issues of player compatibility, etc...

[Jeff Wagg]

They could have fit twice as much on those six DVDs, if they went with 8+ GB discs, instead of 4.7 GB discs.

Hearing the papers on audio just isn't the same. How difficult could it be to run off a bunch of copies of the paper videos?


OK, here's what happened.

Going to six discs greatly increased our costs. We didn't find out until the last minute that there was no room for the papers or the candid shots.

The papers would have been another two discs at least. The candid shots would have been another. A 9 disk set would have cost over $100, and we decided that was too much.

So, we will have an audio (MP3) disk of the presentations available, but not the video. There just isn't enough demand for the paper presentations to justify the cost of mastering and reproduction on DVD.

8GB disks cost even more. As it was, we had to increase the compression just to fit them on six disks.

We have contacted iTunes to try to make the material available there, but I'm not hopeful. It seems they're overloaded with requests and are only accepting material from really big producers. But, we shall see.

I personally apologize for the wrong information that was given out. It was an honest mistake, but it was misleading just the same.

[Wowbagger]

Yeah, but then you get into issues of player compatibility, etc...
Most commercially sold DVDs are in an 8 GB format. I'm sure there's a service somewhere out there that could have mass produced the TAM discs in that format, instead of DVD-Rs.

ETA: Taking Jeff's comment into consideration, perhaps this idea would have cost too much? Well, maybe in the future, when costs go down, we can have a TAM5 Super Deluxe set, or something. It worked for The Lord of the Rings.

[El_Spectre]

Most commercially sold DVDs are in an 8 GB format. I'm sure there's a service somewhere out there that could have mass produced the TAM discs in that format, instead of DVD-Rs.

ETA: Taking Jeff's comment into consideration, perhaps this idea would have cost too much? Well, maybe in the future, when costs go down, we can have a TAM5 Super Deluxe set, or something. It worked for The Lord of the Rings.

In the super special edition, Christopher Hitchens will be played by an ogre.

(Wait, wasn't he already?)

[xenxabar]

Most commercially sold DVDs are in an 8 GB format. I'm sure there's a service somewhere out there that could have mass produced the TAM discs in that format, instead of DVD-Rs.

ETA: Taking Jeff's comment into consideration, perhaps this idea would have cost too much? Well, maybe in the future, when costs go down, we can have a TAM5 Super Deluxe set, or something. It worked for The Lord of the Rings.
I did a little research (http://www.proactionmedia.com/dvd_replication.htm) on this. Methinks that creating masters might be a big upfront cost.

[jer]

Since it isn't profitable to sell this extra material, how 'bout simply giving it away as a free download? I'm sure people would love to see it (I know I would, I overslept and didn't make it to the paper presentations. I really wish I could have seen them.)

If it's a matter of the work involved to encode the video, I'm sure people would volunteer to help out. (I know I would.)

[CFLarsen]

In the super special edition, Christopher Hitchens will be played by an ogre.

(Wait, wasn't he already?)

He is an ogre. But he's our ogre... :)

[exarch]

Since it isn't profitable to sell this extra material, how 'bout simply giving it away as a free download? I'm sure people would love to see it (I know I would, I overslept and didn't make it to the paper presentations. I really wish I could have seen them.)

If it's a matter of the work involved to encode the video, I'm sure people would volunteer to help out. (I know I would.)

If the paper presentations need two DVD's to fit all of it on, I doubt having them downloadable would be beneficial to the JREF website's download capacity and all that.
Google-video might be a workable alternative. Providing some balance for all the Loose change and Kirk Camerons out there spreading ignorance. But of course, once you put them there, you lose control over what happens to them, not to mention the need for approval from various people before you can even put them up. You'd also miss out on another way of getting some extra inflow of cash for the JREF.
Despite that, I'd like to be able to download them if they became available like that.

[jer]

If the paper presentations need two DVD's to fit all of it on, I doubt having them downloadable would be beneficial to the JREF website's download capacity and all that.

Well, they'd obviously not be full-res DVD quality :)

Google-video might be a workable alternative. Providing some balance for all the Loose change and Kirk Camerons out there spreading ignorance. But of course, once you put them there, you lose control over what happens to them, not to mention the need for approval from various people before you can even put them up. You'd also miss out on another way of getting some extra inflow of cash for the JREF.

Well, first off, how much inflow of cash are they providing if no one ever gets to see them? ;)

But also, google video has a mechanism allowing you to sell downloads already formatted for ipods and whatnot. If the inflow of cash is a requirement, that's a potential way to do it.