It is looking like we are rapidly getting past the VHS generation with bootlegs. Having pushed this envelope more than once before, I (for one) could not be happier!
I may add to this list. I am grateful for ANY bootleg video of The Gathering, no matter the quality. That is why we are all here reading this forum. This list is only to help address issues I've seen and make this better for everyone.
With internet distribution of bootleg videos, we no longer have to be concerned with degredation of VHS tapes and multiple generation copying.
Having said that, I have new concerns with the encoding of videos.
1.
Compression artifacts. Bootlegs are bad enough without the use of tripods to keep the image steady and lenses that either don't focus or can't capture lighting well for a concert. When encoding a video on your computer, please do NOT overcompress the video to make it smaller! We don't need additional blotchiness (aka artifacts) added to the concert. There is a happy medium between saving file size and creating visual issues. Find that point please, before encoding. It varies depending on the codec and software used.
2.
Resolution. Personally I use 640 x 480 whenever possible. That is twice the resolution of VHS. There does not seem to be a big issue with this, but I want to note that you should match the encoding resolution with the source resolution.
3.
Audio Synchronization. This is one of the biggest issues I've seen with digitally encoded bootlegs. It depends on the software that you use to encode. For example, the Chile DVD torrent loses it's synchronization (but re-syncs) twice! This is very frustrating to watch. When you encode a video, watch it fully before sharing it! If it goes out of synch, please re-encode. This is almost impossible to fix if you don't have the source!
4.
Corrections. Having converted a bootleg to a digital format, you now have the capability to correct and improve the video quality. Those of you who downloaded my videos from my hub have seen this. What you downloaded from me looks better than my source.
5.
Codecs. There are many many formats for encoding videos. Since these are bootlegs and likely to be watched on TVs, I recommend using ISO standard formats such as MPEG-1, 2, and 4. That will help ensure compatability among the widest group of people. VideoCD is MPEG-1. DVD is MPEG-2. iPod and PSP use MPEG-4. If you encode in one of these formats, then you will not have to transcode. If you use AVI, real, flash (like youtube) or WMV, then you have to transcode into MPEG if you want to burn it as a DVD.
This is now the equivalent of a second generation VHS. Every time you convert the video to another format (transcode), you are adding another "generation" of degradation to the quality of the video!
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