We require more Gigaflops!
Video encoders, at least the semi-public face presented by the likes of those who frequent AnimeSuki, have a tendency to put on airs, and it's not totally unjustified. In theory, anyone can be an encoder, but there are certain barriers to entry to being anything approaching one who is consistently "good" yet timely. And so I respect the dedicated encoder, for he or she is in possession of things that I could never hope to afford.
Decent vision, for one.
But if laser surgery is out of the question, the eye — legally blind or otherwise — can yet be aided by a digital monitor of sufficiently high dimension and resolution. I don't have one of those either, let alone a system with digital video output.
Of course it's one thing to be decent, another to be timely, and quite another to be both. Being both requires a high-speed internet connection, generous or non-existent traffic quotas, and some serious number crunching silicon. To have all three implies a certain level of affluence.
I don't have what it takes to be even timely and mediocre, so encoding has always been a curiosity, but never an interest. That has changed as of late because the realization hit that I have a number of transport streams. Sometimes, the obvious just has a tendency to creep up on you.
Now if you'll humour me, I have two stories to tell. This first one is made up. For the most part.
What should have happened
The stampede for all things MPEG-2 started when I randomly stumbled across a rather large TS for — who else? — Utada Hikaru. I had previously passed on .mpg and .ts alike, but this one gave me pause. This one was Deep River, and it was live, and it was the textbook performance that I had been raving about to anyone who wouldn't put me on their ignore list, or punch me in the face.
And it was in 1080i.
Did people even have HD in 2003? Must find out! Also, putting the fanboy hat on.
Dude, your LCD doesn't go to 1920x1080. Be happy with YouTube or something.
One day, I will thank myself for having preserved the AWESOME.
But it's almost 800 megs!
I'm future-proofing. Didn't you hear me the first time?
It's almost 800 megs, for only four and a half minutes!
La la la, I can't hear you because I'm future-proofing!
Can this hard drive even sustain 20 Mbps in read bandwidth?
Frankly my dear, future-proofing doesn't give a damn. *Click*
But this was like popping the lid off a Pringles can, and I chased after as many digital captures as I could. Save the MPEG-2! Collect the whole set!
What really happened
I started collecting Utada Hikaru MPEG-2 around 2007, around the time of Beautiful World. Yeah, I liked the first story a lot better as well. Moving on.
Demodulated MPEG-2 transport is, for all intents and purposes, the king of broadcast, since all the problems that crop up in legacy analog transmission go away. People can and still do drop the ball actually getting the video to the antenna, but the distribution of transport streams means that the encoder has the video on their own terms. The raw capper is out of the equation.
In other words, "as-demodulated" is about the closest thing to "as-is."
Performing live is compelling. In standing on the stage, the performer must answer the world. Are you for real? Or do you just belong in the studio with your mixer boards and Auto-Tune? How do you fare when you can't edit away your errors? And most importantly, is your stage a better studio?
Questions. Hopes. Fears. On both sides of the stage, with every appearance. The bits coming out of the camera are probably the closest we'll ever get to being a part of that experience, to being in Japan, in 2008 or 2006 or 2003. So that's why it is so important to collect, watch, and share.
And unlike TV series that can be marketed as a collection of optical discs, there are no second chances for these lives. This is disposable entertainment in the truest sense, treated the same as puff interviews and news reports, but perhaps unjustly so.
I don't doubt for a moment that all this stuff is sitting in the archives of some number of broadcasters, and one day there will be free access for all. Then again, one day the open archives will be irrelevant to all save the research community. And one day, I will be dead.
It's so comforting to think about inevitabilities.
At any rate, I am suddenly struck by the need to do something with my collection besides backing them up. Watching them is a nice start. I'm not so silly as to have admired the file names and left it at that, but shrinking them down to a resolution where everything can be seen just makes the combing that much more apparent.
I'll be documenting the process, for future reference, but I anticipate this will be a straightforward, if ridiculously time-consuming, process. Serious silicon, I have not.