ajwdad

I would pay extra to have you teach my kids. In their high school, the band teacher cannot give a bad grade unless the person does not show up for class, we cannot have tryouts ( might hurt little Johney's or Jane's psycho), cannot let freshmen play first parts (They are too young, forget that one of my sons played the starting solo for BDC all summer long), and guess what. The band sucks and the better musicians try to get to another school or venue for real practice. You Rock!! Especially in this politically correct time and age! 100% support.

I have seen BDB do push-ups and run. Heck, I even saw BDC's drum major and horn players drop for a quick 10 pushups. I cannot see how this is even really punishment, but rather more of an acknowledgment of the mistake made. Bottom line, if that scares you, Drum Corp is really going to be terrifying. BDA has to read 100 posts when they make a mistake... :thumbup:

This is a fun question. I think that he would do anything that it takes to win. Including props, weird music, brutally honest camps etc...

Right again. Shipping is about $1, and handling depends on how you want to charge. Amazon charges $1.99 for shipping and handling anywhere in the US. Not a major cost, and usually borne directly by the consumer. One a previous note, our legal tells me that for most royalties, the costs are similar or the same for DVD or streaming. The actual DVD royalty is paid by the company making the player, and that is passed on to the consumer. Downloads are not free, but disk space and internet connections are usually covered elsewhere as are PCs. Content storage is not free either for the distributor. And DRM costs for those content owners that do not want pristine digital copies floating around the net are not free. My bottom line, for a ton of reasons, DVDs and BluRays are very nice to have and most important. Digital Copies are nice, but you still either have to connect your PC/IPSTB to a HDTV, or burn to disk or watch on the PC, which is not that popular in the US. Streaming is a distant 3rd option, which really is too bad for those of us that want high quality music and video. It is the 2nd cheapest, but most cost analysis should include lower demand for the streaming and digital only models.

What are the DCI requirements for shows for both Open and for World Class? And How many required shows are there west of the Rockies? I see San Antonio as the west-most show that was mentioned, and that is in the center of the country. thanks for answering.

You are 100% right. I would like to see them publish complete minutes... After all, this is an NP. I think that some of the less popular proposals would not even get presented...

with a silver bullet. Can we get a corp to do a Zombie show next year? Out of the light or another takeoff on macabre?

We do pretty packaging in China for about 20 cents a copy. As for what else matters, what about the fans? I am glad that the kids like it, but we play a lot of DVDs in this household, and my kids all have them. None of my 3 in the activity like this at all. And, there is no better screen in the house than a high definition TV running at 1080P, and about 60 inches.

Simple misunderstanding. Netflix online is free to Netflix subscribers. It was great guns for about 2 qtrs, but has been disappointing since. This is from Reed Hastings and their VP marketing, whose name I don't want to post here. As for books, newspapers etc... there is no video component that requires high speed... I think that OC directors should take a look at hollywood, who focuses on high quality entertainment, and maybe on broadcast TV. The streaming that is available now just cannot deliver the high levels of quality that BlurRay can. As for the overhead, you are right it is cheaper to put something on the internet. But for those of us interested in a high quality experience, 5.1 sound, and true high definition, streaming video is a very poor substitute. As for me, DCI will not get a penny of mine using this distribution model. BTW, I won't pay for Netflix to stream their video either.

Ripping copyrighted content to the ISO level or transcoding it to MP4 is illegal. Been decided for over 2 years in the US courts. Basically Realnetworks got put out of business. Not sure about Europe, where they rip everything. You can get free rippers on the net, but even they come with disclaimers.

Right now, there is no ability to offer true BluRay quality in a streaming manner over the internet. Not just my words, but even Netflix marketing and engineering will agree. Think about it, BluRay is 28G Bytes for about 2 hours. You need at least 12.5 Mbits/sec, in the download direction + about 15% overhead for protocol handling, and that is not available in more than a few commercial markets in the US. DVD is only 8 GBytes, and usually DVD is better quality than you can get on the net. Don't confuse playback rates and resolutions. 1080P, which is 1920x1030 at 30 FPS (standard broadcast) of 24 FPS (standard movie) and real bit depth for color clarity and for audio quality (at least get 5.1) and you get the picture fast. I agree, we need BluRay and DVD for now. Until white space is made real, we just don't have the bandwidth to deliver BluRay quality streaming over the net.

Believe it or not, we need both. Your perspective as a seasoned professional gives insiders and knowledgeable people a real view at what is happening. His perspective is what i would expect from a newbie that is trying to write an interesting article, but without interviewing or researching the subject very well. He will become more knowledgeable in time, if he continues. and we will need to reach out to those like him more and more. BTW, nice article!

I am in the business of Web 2.0. In spite of netflix and Youtube, monetizing content on the internet is a very tough game. As for new generation of viewers, you are right here, but how many of you will actually buy as opposed to free download etc... Netflix offers streaming for FREE. Hulu is FREE. Fancast is FREE. Not so easy to collect $20 per head... However, I will buy the BDB DVD when they make it.

You are right, but I believe that DCI already owns the content. At any rate, my analysis was on the processing alone as you mention.

thanks for the article, and the work all season.

+1

I believe that you are correct. And this is complete BS. I actually produce DVDs, and given that we have source material, it is really fairly inexpensive. For instance, authoring can be done for low thousands, a glass master about the same, and then each copy could be around $0.17... Seventeen cents! If we just authored and then gang blasted recordable dvds, the quality of the actual disk (*not the video quality*) would definitely be lower, but the cost would be very inexpensive as well. My guess is that DCI just does not support OC well. We are stuck. And $19.99 is a very high price. Should be closer to $5-$10, if movies are any indicator. I used movies that are not that popular as a reference point here.

Not sure about scooping the talent, at least with BD. BDB is a feed corp that is doing pretty well for about 3 years or so, and I don't think that BDA needs to raid talent from OC. If anything, some OC marchers will want to join BDA for the experience. I cannot speak for BD directly or for other corps, but that logic seems flawed a bit to me. Usually, I agree with you, but on this occasion, I have to doubt the reasoning. One another note, I think that the original G7 proposal is pretty dead. Don't know about the world series tour however. One question, didn't there used to be regional organizations? One comment on DCI. They do a pretty poor job in supporting west coast based corps, including OC corps. Signing up finals in Indy for 10 years after a pretty successful Pasadena finals was not well received out here. When Dan was questioned about it, (comment was that Pasadena was well attended and it took 30 years to get championships to the west coast,) his response was that it would likely be another 30 years. My guess is that some sort of regional help is needed here. Not all corps can afford to get to Indy every year. BDB has only been to finals since 2007, SCVC goes every other year, and I am not sure about the others.

VK, I really enjoyed your show this year, again! The humor and the music combined to make a very fun show to watch. thanks!

Not a lot to add. IMO, BD's show was over discussed here. Seemed like 80% of the threads ended up with a BD post. But i will make a distinction between over hyped and over discussed. As for SCV and the early competitions, I think that DCI is not doing any west coast corps favors with almost no participation from east coast, midwest or southern corps coming out. I tend to blame DCI for this as opposed to the individual corps. It would be great to see some more competition early, but for now, that is life. Perhaps, they should have more money for corps that travel over 1000 miles to ease that burden. Cavies: Oversold maybe. Overhyped possibly. But a good show. Coats: Over hyped. I think that people wanted them to do well, and as well as they did, they did not have the caliber show of the first 2 placements. Crown: Way overhyped. Again, seemed like a lot of wishful thinking. I am not sure that their horn line was nearly as good as the early posters indicated. I think that their placement was about right. Phantom: I think maybe underhyped here. Their percussion was incredible, but the rest of the show, I thought, was a crown pleaser and innovative. Maybe not a top caliber show, but Phantom is now firmly my 2nd favorite corp. On the brass side, I think that the solo was over done, and may have hurt them a bit. They got hurt visually. SCV: Not a lot of hype and deservedly so. Cadets: Agree with you. Overhyped early, and little Jeffrey detracted from the show. But I did not understand the hype at all. Can't comment on the rest too much. I did not get to see them at all. Only caught the last 5-6 on finals night and on semis night.

Brasso, I completely agree with most of your post, but I doubt seriously that BD or Downey "knew" that this show would meet with golf claps, silence, boos.... from a friendly audience. But the organization knows that any show that they do that can win in Indy will be met that way exactly. As for BD's management concern with fans, I think that they are very concerned with fans, but not with cultivating fans from other corps. BTW, the Dallas Cowboys, Indy Colts, 49ers or any other football team is not really interested in winning over other teams fans either. It is the nature of fans. They do try to win fans over with their outside activities like System Blue, leaving a facility better than they found it, and a ton of non-DCI activities like symphony, and support of other NPs in the area. It is also the nature of fans to be very passionate. Especially about "their" team or corp. And with that passion, comes a lack of restraint and with that comes booing. BTW, the appeal on the west coast for BDs show was always loud, standing ovations. Not so, outside of CA, but inside where the fan base is strong, it was a very well accepted show. I am not saying that if they had a more understandable show that was filled with easy to listen to music; that it would not have been better accepted. But that kind of show would not "win over other fans" but rather give the other fans a reason to accept them better. Last comment, there are fans of DCI, fans of Drum Corp, fans of marching bands, and fans of individual corps. But, while these groups have similarities and some overlap, they are not the same. I doubt that booing is a good way to win over new fans into drum corps or DCI...

hard to fix rude, and you can't fix stupid.

amazing responses. My take on it. Definitely more comfortable and definite worse sound. At Lucas, visual is about all that mattered. Amplified solos, enclosed sound echo chamber, but very comfortable seating and viewing. I suppose that if I designed a show, I would definitely design it to take full advantage of the echo chamber, Lucas Oil, and stunning visuals. Maybe that is what Downey did.

BDs show. I saw it on family day, and really did not like a lot of what I saw. But, by the time that qtrs came around, it was my favorite show. Like another poster, I did not like SCV's show at all in june and even less on finals. Phantom's show was my second favorite while the cavies show was the one that was the most discussed in my circles. Thanks to one of you for your cogent explanation of the show... I did not understand why anyone liked Crown's show this year as it seemed filled with major chords played from set positions that screamed "please clap now." BD's show was the opposite. Except for about a minute in, there were very few obvious, "let's applaud" moments. Even the ending was that way. But, my favorite show of the year. My #2 show for changing my mind was the cavies show. I felt like the show engaged my intellect and emotions.

I guess that I am a bit old fashioned. I agree with much of your post, but I find poor sportsmanship to be offensive. Not illegal, just poor behavior. Those that want to boo have a right to do so, But as I mentioned, the consequences will include a lot of people that are disgusted with that kind of behavior. I am not trying to change anyone's perspective... just expressing mine. I do find it interesting that your defense of booing is based in booing an encore or the retreat playing. 2008 has been discussed to death, but did you boo the other corps that played wrong notes? How about booing the retreat? I doubt it.