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djpretzel

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Posts posted by djpretzel

    Sony PlayStation 4

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    PlayStation Now was officially named/announced. This is the Gaikai based (think OnLive) PS1/2/3 streaming service that was mentioned previously in Sony conferences. This will be available on PS3/Vita/PS4/Bravia TVs, and Smartphones/Tablets.

    The playability/streamability will probably be decent but the graphical fidelity WILL take a hit - i.e., there WILL be compression artifacting, all the worse on a sporadic connection.

    The slap in the face here is that they've indicated that the new streaming service won't honor previous digital purchases or physical purchases... so you won't be able to insert your physical PS3 game and have that server as authorization to play the streaming version on your PS4, and if you bought it on PSN previously, that's also not good enough. This to me is just downright insulting, and I'm confused why there isn't greater outrage... perhaps the policy isn't 100% final, but if this is accurate, count me as pissed... I guess if it's a Netflix-style service, and all those games are indeed offered, it's not as big of a deal...

    On the positive side, though, BioShock Infinite & DmC for free IS pretty cool...

    YouTube Content ID Apocalypse

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by djpretzel

    So Youtube has issued a statement where they completely stand by their decision. They will not even admit that the automated system is making a lot of calls in error.

    ...

    So if you just happen to have a Vengeance loop or something playing on your song which is on YouTube, some company with absolutely no affiliation with Vengeance can claim total ownership of your video on the basis of the (royalty-free) sample. Now I am no legal expert, but I am pretty sure that is not even close to legal.

    But of course, there couldn't be anything wrong with the algorithm YouTube/Google uses. Nope. It's working absolutely fine!

    Two thoughts... one, if they continue doubling-down on this decision in spite of clear false-positives and public outcry, perhaps they've done the math and concluded that even with a certain % of attrition on the part of their contributing user base, this is STILL a more profitable path forward for them. I'd actually be surprised if someone HADN'T run some projected numbers that would help explain why they would continue to stand by a policy so clearly unpopular.

    Second though, re: legality - I'm pretty sure you sign away enough rights via the YouTube/Google TOS that this isn't likely. Again, they've got the resources, I'm guessing they've crossed the T's and dotted the I's, and that redirection of ad revenue based on automated content ID matching is completely within their legal rights as providers of their service. That's "legal" - from an "ethical" perspective, they're basically giving up on the people who made them huge in the first place, flipping them the bird, and cashing in.

    So if they stand by this shift, and the algo doesn't get better.... then imo that potentially opens up a space in the market for a viable competitor. But any would-be challenger might ask themselves... if Google themselves went this route after analyzing the numbers, projecting the costs, calculating the risk, etc... why wouldn't we just end up in the same boat?

    I dunno, interested in thoughts on this... at the moment the most logical development would simply be refinement of the algo or some sort of partial system like Andy proposed, although that introduces additional complexity, and if they're not getting this algo right (at all), it's difficult to see how they would get something MORE complex right...

    2014 New Year Resolutions!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1. GENERAL: Be an awesome father, an awesome husband, and an awesome site admin, in that order!!
    2. FINALLY modernize the site's look & feel and functionality AND update/migrate the forums (aka "V6")
    3. Finish 5 ReMixes, aka "get back on the musical horse". Just upgraded to Cubase 7.5 after my brief experiment with Reaper; going to focus on learning it and Sylenth1 and putting together some templates so I can be 5X more productive. Been wanting to do this for years, just needed to double-down on DAW choice after playing the field a bit...
    4. Lose 10 more pounds (lost ~10 this year)
    5. Fix/update landscaping around the house

    Still thinking about 2-3 good additions to the list, but these would be great!

    DJP is now a DADDY!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks, everybody!

    Mommy & baby are both doing fine and we'll all be coming home from the hospital tomorrow!

    Totally sleep-deprived at the moment, but also really happy & excited! So I'm gonna give MYSELF the following:

    :nicework::nicework::nicework::sleepdepriv::sleepdepriv::sleepdepriv:

    YouTube Content ID Apocalypse

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by djpretzel

    Well, look.... obviously this is complete bullshit for the affected content creators who are producing original content that simply happens to be ABOUT or INVOLVE the material in question...

    ... but - simply as a topic of conversation - for every individual working hard to provide meaningful content on YT, for which compensation in the form of ad revenue is absolutely appropriate, there are dozens if not hundreds who are putting stuff up verbatim, with no modifications whatsoever, and monetizing it. That USED to be fine, because monetization USED to be harder, but since it's become so very easy to monetize pretty much ANYTHING on YouTube, Pandora's Box was opened, and Copyright Holders do have some legitimate objections to people just blatantly using their shit to make money, with zero-to-minimal original contributions of their own.

    Divining the degree to which a "substantial original contribution" has been made is something that no algorithm that I'm aware of could BEGIN to handle. And so, in a reversal of their "Don't be evil" mantra from days of yore, they're erring on the side of big money. Shocker! A more interesting question... was this their plan all along? Let the cat wayyyy out of the bag, let the childrens run WILD, then flick the BIG MONEY SWITCH on, then reel it all back in & divert all that cheddar back to Corporate Earth? So devious, if so... and yet, a truly post-Internet business model!

    In my mind, the best solution is making it HARDER to monetize videos in the first place - that's the place where human review can & should still be involved...

    *NO - djpretzel VETO* Wild Arms 'Flight of the Eagle'

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    I am vetoing this.

    I realize it was unanimous, which makes this all the stranger... I am hoping Pieter still has the source files and can remedy what I'm hearing as relatively evident issues that should be addressable.

    Using the woodwind for accompaniment at/around 1'12" was fine, but the volume level is wayyyyyy low. Problematically low. It actually sounds accidental; the balance is just way off, to me. Bumping up the volume on the accompanying wind part is the easiest fix, but it will probably expose the weakness of the sample a bit more, so what I'm really hoping is that the artist can replace it with something a little stronger and/or sequence it with a little more embellishment, or collab with someone who can do so.

    That's my major beef, but in a piece that's primarily piano & flute, it's significant. I'll also add that while there's a lot of dynamic contrast on the piano part, the loud parts are very uniformly loud, and could use a bit of a rebalance - triple forte is a great & powerful thing, but I think it's almost overused, here. This point is more subjective but again, the piece lives & dies by dynamics - they're clearly being focused on, there's good variation here already, but when it goes full bore, it stays there a little too long and loses some of the dynamics between individual notes... hopefully this makes sense.

    I'd ditch the eagle cry at the end as well, or get something with a bit more fidelity - the sample employed has a noticeable bitrate reduction that makes it explicitly sound like a sample of an eagle as opposed to... an eagle. This is more of a nitpick, but it's also the last thing listeners are left with.

    I don't pull vetoes often, especially on unanimous passes... but I think judges need to take a closer look here - I think the full promise of the piece hasn't been realized, and I think its current incarnation isn't quite good enough, primarily because of the imbalanced flute accompaniment circa 1'12".

    Pieter knows I love him so hopefully he won't hate me too much :tomatoface:

    PlayStation Vita

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For anyone who's getting/just got a Vita and never owned a PSP, there are a TON of great PSP games you should try, which look pretty great on the Vita's screen.

    For starters, I actually think I liked Persona 3 Portable a little BETTER than P4G, and either way, if you like the series, it's a must.

    If you're into strategy RPGs, you absolutely MUST play Jeanne D'Arc... one of my favorite handheld games EVER, HIGHLY recommended, Brandon I think you'd like it...

    Right now I'm playing Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which is a REALLY old school/classic JRPG that has great writing/plot.

    Seriously, the PSP was an AMAZING system for RPGs, and most of that is available on the Vita, so don't limit yourself just to Vita games!!

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