2007 DVD - Full DVD Now Available
Jan 24, 2008
I promise this is the final update concerning the 2007 DVD. I’m sick of hearing about it too.
The full version of the 2007 DVD is now available. You get the DVD in a simple paper sleeve mailed in a protective cardboard mailer for a flat rate of $5 - that includes the cost of the disc, packaging, shipping and all applicable taxes. We didn’t do any fancy packaging as that just adds to production costs and increases the shipping costs as well. That’s totally against the idea behind our DVDs. We’re giving these away pretty much at cost.
So if you want the full DVD with all the extra videos not available on the free downloadable DVD, head on over and snag one. It’s just $5 total for DVD orders shipping to the USA or Canada. Orders shipped internationally (anywhere but the US and Canada) cost a total of $10.
I guess that’s it for now. The 2007 DVD saga is over and I can finally get back to adding new pictures and photo galleries and all that good stuff.
Go get yourself a copy of this year’s DVD (either download for free or order the full version for a small fee) and check back soon for tons more new media coming your way.
2007 DVD - Now Available For Download
Jan 18, 2008After much ado, the 2007 season roller coaster DVD is now available for download. As I rambled about in the last update, the free downloadable version contains 10 videos from the 2006 & 2007 seasons. I wish I could have included more in the download, but the sheer size became an issue.
I still wanted to be able to share all 11 videos, the extra stuff I have and throw a few of the older video clips on as well and that will be an option too, but not for download. The good news is I worked long & hard and once I get them (in the next week or two) I’ll be able to send DVDs to those of you who are interested for a flat $5 in the USA and Canada. That includes the DVD, packaging and shipping. I’ll have more details on that once I’m ready to start offering the discs.
Until then, go download the new DVD and enjoy the videos.
Also of note, this year’s DVD is done in widescreen format. If you have a newer 16:9 widescreen TV, the picture will fill the screen with no stretching and if you watch on an older 4:3 CRT television, you’ll get a slick letterboxed picture. Good stuff.
Like I said, I’ll have the ordering info on the full DVD posted as soon as I get the discs and in the meantime, I’m going to try to do a photo gallery update. Lots of goodness coming so keep checking back.
2007 DVD Update
Jan 14, 2008
Ok, so here’s the deal. This year’s DVD is big. Like really big. Like too big for its own good. For comparison, the 2004 and 2005 DVD each contain about a half hour of video - give or take. They’re simple, one menu discs meant to share the videos and little more.
I had grander ideas for the 2007 disc - animated menus, tons of video, bonus footage, classic footage…going all out. I finished the DVD this weekend, burned a copy and popped it in. Wonderful stuff, I was pleased. Quite pleased.
Then I sat back down at the computer and began the trying to figure out how to compress the DVD files small enough to reasonably share online via download. That’s where the trouble began.
The 2007 DVD contains three times more video (almost 90 minutes) than the 2004 and 2005 discs and three times the content means three times the size. Three times the size means I either offer a ginormous download or compress the video further to make downloading a feasible option. I started compressing…and then compressing some more…and then compressing the files on top of that. Once I got the DVD down to a size I was happy with, I burned the compressed version and popped it in.
I almost cried.
It looked like hell.
Not that I didn’t expect it to. You can only push video so far before everything starts to break down and I crossed that line and then some. There was no way I could share this (even for free) with coasterimage visitors. I just wouldn’t. There’s a level of quality I try to maintain and this clearly wouldn’t cut it. The problem is an uncompressed DVD would not only take hours and hours and hours to download on even the fastest connections, but it’d also eat up my bandwidth and leave me with no website.
This is where I had to start brainstorming and I think I came up with a compromise that works on some level. I’ll offer the free DVD for download with most of the basics intact (essentially if you just want the videos from the website in DVD quality, then you’re covered), but also offer a physical product that can be purchased for a nominal fee (right now I’m working on a way to do it for $5 including shipping) - the key here is that the DVD’s were never meant as a way to cash in on coasterimage’s traffic. I refuse to do that - flat out. My whole philosophy with this site is to offer the visitor as much as possible at the highest quality possible for free…and I do that. The DVD’s should not be an exception.
So here’s my solution - two delivery options. If you still want to download a free DVD and burn it yourself, you can. However, in the best interest of all involved, it will be a basic disc containing 10 of the 11 videos from this season in DVD quality. If you want the full DVD (all 11 videos, 20 minutes of video not on the site and 4 classic videos) for whatever reason then you can have one sent to you pretty much at cost (product + shipping).
Right now I’m not 100% on the details of what exactly the product will be, but I want to keep keep the costs as low as possible. The final product could range anywhere from simple blank-faced, burned DVDR’s to actual commercial-quality DVDs printed in full color with a case, cover and shrinkwrap. I have to consider all the opportunities here - and again, the final choice will be the one that offers the highest quality in ratio to the lowest cost to get them in the hands of the people that want them.
So that’s where this whole thing stands right now. I’ll have the basic DVD download available (for free, of course) online in two or three days and by then I should have a solid answer as to what the other options will be too.
Thanks for being patient and sticking with me on this. All I can say is that I greatly underestimated this project going into it and now that I have my heart set on delivering something really nice, I’m going to make sure that happens.
Check back later this week for the DVD details and in the meantime, if you didn’t notice, I got the new map pages online late last week. Yay!
Happy New Year
Jan 7, 2008Just wanted to check in with everyone and let y’all know I didn’t forget about you. I got tied up in the holidays and didn’t get to spend quite as much time with the site as I had hoped I would.
However, I did do some much needed maintenance (behind the scenes stuff) to the site and I have been slowly moving forward with both the new map pages and the DVD. I can say with great certainty that both will be online next week some time.
The map pages have a slightly more usable layout that lets you click park names and open their locations on the maps rather than clicking around the maps to find the parks. Not a monumental step forward, but easier and more intuitive for finding parks on the maps.
The 2006/2007 DVD is almost finished and will be available as a free download again. I toyed with the idea of physical copies for people unable to download and burn their own for whatever reason or for those wanting something more substantial, but in the end, I think I’m sticking with the free downloads for now. We’ll see. For now it seems to make more sense to stay free with the DIY approach. Perhaps in 2008 we’ll offer some options? Perhaps I’ll change my mind and do something for 2007? I’m not sure. This year’s DVD will definitely be a free download like the others (and all future ones) - if I do a physical product it will be an option in addition to (not instead of) the freebies. Enough thinking out loud about that.
After that I still have 7 parks and 3 special feature photo sets to get online before the 2008 season starts, so there’s a lot of pictures just around the bend. Be patient. I’m busy and ‘real life’ is eating away at my time more and more lately.
I also want to clean up things around the site a bit. Right now everything is floating between three different designs depending on where on the site you go. I’m currently debating whether to get it all in line and stick with it or let it float along as it is until after this season and go with a complete overhaul. Again, I’m debating with myself out loud. Either way, know that eventually things will be put in line as far as the look of the site goes.
Lastly, we’re starting to think about 2008 trips. Expect the usual - more new parks, more revisited parks, lots of new coasters. As things become more solid in the next few months I’ll pass along the info.
Then there’s the fact that late-February marks the 5th anniversary of coasterimage.com being online. There’s a good chance I’ll pull some goodies out of my hat as a thank-you to those of you who’ve been supporting the site over the past few years. Again, I have some ideas that I need to jump on sooner than later, so keep your eyes peeled for some info on the anniversary fun in the upcoming weeks as well.
I think that covers it. We’re into 2008 and I’ve been doing this park photography thing for just shy of 7 years now. I’ve amassed quite a collection of photos, videos and whatnot and I’m glad I get the chance to share it with everyone. Here’s to more of the same in 2008!
(Thus concludes the “State of the Website” address)
