I can do nonsensical tripe

I've never heard James Allen, so I would listen to your version of it. By the way don't worry about your voice, I was really surprised how professional you sounded despite not doing this before at all. so good job and keep it up! I am hoping to be included in the next one myself, I sent my entry form this morning...

I will process your application later

Just an update on the sponsorship/hosting situation, i've currently got half a dozen interested parties ranging from an indie coder who wants all my source code to some big companies who want co-branding, i'm talks with all these parties to try and find a mutually beneficial arrangement that lets us get the high quality stream out to you directly without relying on third parties.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

When I was watching it I was half expecting you to insert an Allenism just for shits and giggles, something about a Spanish driver slipping around like he was on the icy Spanish fjords.

Lmao! Tristan, can we (the drivers) give you some daft phrase or Allenism that you must manage to insert at some point during each commentary?

I have to be perfectly honest here about the STCC videos, I wasn't convinced they were going to work. I thought it was a bold attempt, but that the end result would end up looking like exactly what it really is - an amateur video of amateur drivers playing a computer game online.

Boy, was I wrong! The coverage looks terrific and for the most part flows really well like real race coverage with a director. The commentary, much to my surprise (sorry Tristan ), worked well as Tristan's knowledge of racing and ease behind the microphone shone through. Agree with the comments about not trying to make it sound too slick - the commentary should sound as though this is the first time the commentator has seen it, so some pauses and "errrs" and mistakes make it sound much more realistic.

(Anyone remember that charisma-devoid twat that writes for the Times and originally commentated on ITV's F1 coverage when ITV first got the rights to it? Soon enough he was bumped off the F1 coverage and shortly after I found him commentating on a pre-recorded motorsport magazine on ITV on Saturday afternoons. Can't remember what race series they were covering, but it was painfully obvious that the commentator wasn't commentating live and knew exactly what was going to happen next. This STCC commentary didn't remind me of that at all, which is a good thing).

The video package with on screen graphics is slick and professional. In terms of constructive criticism I'd say that too often the footage followed two cars battling into a corner, but then cut away to someone else resulting in the viewer (and of course the commentator) not knowing the outcome of that particular battle. The other thing I noticed was the sound quality - obviously professional broadcasters spend the GNP of a small African state on their recording equipement, which makes sense because although the content of the commentary was excellent, it was too obviously recorded on a standard pc microphone. Commentary volume levels between the two of you were also a little off in places.

But don't let those things detract from the final output. Terrific production, even moreso considering it's the first one. Congrats and thanks to all involved in making it.

PS. Can we lose the cheesy rock music for the following videos?

I love that music, it was especially recorded just for us !

Lol Strobe, I don't see why you can't suggest things for me to say. Depending on how offensive or unnatural they are I might not be able to squeeze them in, but I'm open to suggestions

And I'd like to stress it WAS the first time I'd seen the race. Okay, so I had a couple of attempts at the first few laps that were rubbish, but I'd never seen anything after lap 2 in that recording...

My mic isn't great, obviously, and maybe if this format is successful I might treat myself to a higher quality one for the future. But I'd imagine (not being a sound expert) that the acoustics of the room can't help much. Maybe a few filters and tweaks to the sound, if tastefully done, would help bump up the quality a bit. To soundy people, what sort of bit rates should I be looking at, bearing in mind it has to be uploaded etc so that it can be merged with the video. I think I was something about 250(kbps?) mp3 is soundforge - is this okay or overkill?

It gets downrated to 32kbps for the DVD and lower still in the web upload so your bitrate is fine. One of the best things you can do is pad the computer in some way so the fan noise does not interfere, however I think your microphone was fine. Mine was aweful, but then I wasn't expecting to commentate and my poor microphone had to work with very shoddy material in the first place ! lol

Excelent job! I really like those graphics, I thought Tristan would have a higher pitch in his voice so a bit of disappointment there
We really really really should have better damage in LFS, would have made some of those accidents much more fun

Good job, keep it going

Quote from Blackout :

I thought Tristan would have a higher pitch in his voice so a bit of disappointment there

same here albeit as i said earlier i was a little shocked at how high the pitch really was ... until i figured out it was becky that is

Quote from Blackout :

We really really really should have better damage in LFS, would have made some of those accidents much more fun

A few engine failures and loose wheels would have looked great

Scawen, are you listening? ...

Quote from Blackout :

I thought Tristan would have a higher pitch in his voice so a bit of disappointment there

After having him heard in RL, I was surprised of the high pitch in the video... In my memory, he has a even lower pitched voice than in the video... But that's not really the point.

Very good movie, although Becky's comment were a bit too obviously put in afterwards...

How long is the waiting list for the XRT?

hahahaaaaaaa i thought that video was excellent. it looks really proffesional. gud job.

well you think thats good? personally i think that was the worst track possible for the opener (i think that FEGreen would have looked better, but still), and race 2 live from FE6 (RallyX Green - With RB4's, XRT's and ( :S ) FXO's!) is just gonna be MAD!

Upload the hi-quality version to FileFront

http://www.filefront.com

I've been uploading it to google video since I got in from work, it's about half way... Come on ADSL2, roll out to my exchange will you dammit !

C. Redman has had to leave the series, so much for someone of equal pace to battle against, oh well, im sure now ive said that ill be beaten to a bloody pulp in the next few rounds!

That arrogance will come back to bit you in less than 48 hours time... !

Quote from Becky Rose :

That arrogance will come back to bit you in less than 48 hours time... !

when i have done 5 laps practice and have 6 bits of coursework to do, so yes!

Quote from Becky Rose :

I've been uploading it to google video...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I hope the quality will not suffer too much...

i just shared that idea with kemot but hes saying its some time till lfs movies pit will be up again to host such thing.

Quote from Becky :

Just an update on the sponsorship/hosting situation, i've currently got half a dozen interested parties ranging from an indie coder who wants all my source code to some big companies who want co-branding, i'm talks with all these parties to try and find a mutually beneficial arrangement that lets us get the high quality stream out to you directly without relying on third parties.

what about LFSTV?
with leagues' races coverages streamed on site or downloadable in hires? there are banners on tracks so leagues can look for their own sponsorship. in future transmiission for mobiles is possible .

i myself hope will be ready in couple of months to create footage from .mprs... so consider my application in future

Say again?

Quote :

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I hope the quality will not suffer too much...
__________________

Regardless of whether the quality is any good it needs to be there for the series to be seen, it's a necessary step, because google is the defacto standard search engine.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Regardless of whether the quality is any good it needs to be there for the series to be seen, it's a necessary step, because google is the defacto standard search engine.

That's soooo true. Priority #1 - coverage. We jump up and down when a newspaper prints a single line about LFS.. a feature like this, even after Google's video codec has chewed on it for an hour or two, will do nothing but good for the STCC, and of course, LFS.

Besides, everyone knows what the quality of Google video is, compared with a DVD.. nobody's going to look at it and say.. OMG the graphics on that sim sux0r!!!1111121. What they will see, though, is how immersive LFS is, and how excellent the online play is.

Tis all good!

All I can say, personally, is Wow .

Things like this make it possible to go through day after day until I can get my new wheel (old one broke, and I'll be getting S2 at the same time!). It was really great too! I especially liked the bits with the replays, rather than always having the camera in the right place at the right time. But thats just me .

Also, Tristan, I think you did a fine job (especially for a first time!). Also, as that was your first time viewing the footage, I think it helped make sure you didn't inadvertantly spoil any outcome in the race. As a final note, after watching the video for a while, I found myself forgetting it was a Sim Race (probably more possible for me, who has never driven in South City, than most of you)! You even started to sound very professional as you got into it!

Kudos to everyone involved, from racers, to server hosts, to video directors, to commentators!

And Jakg, its a shame about that little problem you had at the end. I couldn't quite figure out what happened until you mentioned the recallibration issue. But that J-Turn recovery helped you keep onto 2nd place, and was really quick reaction time on your part. You may not have gotten first, but I don't think anyone will hold it against you.

Thanks again to everyone involved for giving 40 minutes of my work time purpose .