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MEASUREMENT VIDEOS ON DVD

• In 1995 Tom Benjamin proposed that a measurement video be made.
• At the 1991 Annual Meeting Tom McBrayer showed a preview of a video he was working on.
• At the 1992 Annual Meeting Tom McBrayer distributed copies of his finished measurement video. It was made available through distribution by USATF.
• In early 1993 I received a video from Jean-Francois Delasalle. It is in French, and has the McBrayer video coupled on at the end. I had the European VHS tape converted to US format.

Last year I had the VHS, containing both versions, converted to a DVD. I asked the people who did the work to make the DVD copyable on a PC. The disc I received played OK on my DVD player, but I was unable to copy it using Windows XP’s Nero application. I asked the people who made the DVD what was wrong – there is no copy protection involved. They suggested using a disc cloning program. It worked, but the demo version had a life of only 14 days, and the purchase price was more than I cared to pay.

That’s the present status of the measurement video on DVD. I see from the internet that DVD copies can be obtained in lots of 100 for about $2.00 each, which isn’t bad. I am unsure where to go from here. Should the DVD option be made available? Who will do it?
Can the disc be made so that it can be copied using standard DVD-copying software, as is available on Windows?

Does anyone on this BB have the capability to do this? It is beyond my present abilities. I'll be happy to send a disc to anyone wishing to give it a try.

Where should we go from here?
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Dear Keith,

How about I send you the original disc? What I hope you can provide will be a disc that plays in a DVD player and can be copied using Windows XP and Nero.

Anything you can do beyond that would be gravy. What is RIP?

Plans for distribution remain up in the air for now.

If you can do this – or think you can, and want to take a shot - send me a mailing address and I will send you the disc. Please return it ASAP, as I have only one original.
Pete,

If you are using a PC and the source DVD is a single layer DVD (usually less than 4.7 GB) and you have a DVD burner on your computer then you can do it yourself using software available for free.

It's a two step process. First, you'll need to convert the source DVD to an ISO file and second, burn the ISO file onto blank DVDs. Once you have the ISO image, you can burn as many DVDs as needed whenever you need them.

Both steps can be accomplished using the free ImgBurn program available at:

ImgBurn

There are plenty of alternatives. For example you can copy the DVD to an ISO file using LC ISO Creator available at:

Portable Freeware

That's a very simple application that can even run off a thumb drive.

Then you could use WinImg or Small CD-Writer available at:

Small CD-Writer

Small CD-Writer is another portable application that may be run from a thumb drive. There is an English version available.

If you want, I can burn a few of the DVDs, add labels and return them to you.

Thank you. -- Justin
Both Justin and Keith offer the simplest solution of making the copies on your own, but if you are interested in just sending the disc away and getting a 'bunch' back, I have someone I can ask.

While most people have a 'plumbing guy' or an 'electrical guy' that they can call when needed, I have a 'video guy'. I should really work on completing a full roster of helpful people...
I now have two offers of help.

Where I am confused is where to go from here. I can get a DVD from whoever helps which I can hopefully copy using my Windows software. I don't want to do it myself if there is someone who can get it done without enduring the learning curve.

What about mass distribution? Production is impractical doing it in the one-at-a-time mode.

Should RRTC buy a bunch once we know we have a usable DVD?

Bright ideas, anyone?
Keith,

I am mailing the original to Justin Kuo tomorrow. Once he has his go at doing something with it, I'll ask him to send it on to you after the 30th. You can then return it to me or maybe somebody else, if another offer appears.

Between the two of you we ought to be able to come up with something.

Any problems with this?

Best, Pete
Mark,

That video is great and it does demonstrate the proper measurement technique. If a new version was made, we would update the email and website links, use a better quality video, and change the background music to a royalty free version. (According to YouTube, the video is not available in Germany and Japan, because the music may be copyrighted.)

The changes may be a simple as going back to the original video, editing and getting permission to use the copyrighted music.

Thank you. -- Justin
I had the VHS converted to DVD as well. It's still an excellent resource today.

I think the quality of the video would be the only real improvement we'd get from remaking it. That said, digital video is so much better than when this was originally filmed on tape it is worth undertaking.

My thought is to get some film student, probably HS, to do the actual filming as a class project. They'd get academic credit, and we'd get a new, high quality video. Some of the high schools in this area have video studios that rival anything in NY or LA.

I'll investigate further after school resumes.

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