Chapter markers for USB delivery

[Chris Harding]

Hmmm the website is confusing as it says the HTML 5 app is not included and the subscription for that is $168 ...then the actual unit has a $49 subscription too (both for 12 months)

[Enrique Orozco Robles]

..and you'll need the "dongle" ... I think we lost something nice and special that menus provide with the DVD demise !! ....

[Pete Cofrancesco]

The simplest solution that someone suggested is break up the content into segments that make sense on a USB drive. A wedding might look like
1.Getting Ready
2.Ceremony
3.Reception
4.Highlights
You can include a dvd with the elegant menus that gives them the best of both worlds.

No offense to Taky but just thinking about his product gave me a headache. That's coming from someone who's tech savvy. It's too expensive and convoluted. Who would want to pay that subscription fee and send a client those add ons.

That giant dongle looks like some variant of this device I saw on ebay
http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...=1483889471121

His product seems rely on a computer web browser and html 5 to provide a menu interface. I just can't see it being a reliable solution that ordinary clients would want to use.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Enrique Orozco Robles

..and you'll need the "dongle"

For dvd playback you need a dvd and a dvd player and you are delivering a lower quality film, with the dongle you only need that + you can show your film at a much higher quality, you can take that dongle with you and play it anywhere you visit.
Now I"m not promoting that dongle as I still deliver a HD mp4 file on a regular usb stick but I stopped delivering dvd's, only do Blu-ray now and I have dvd as a paid option.

Originally Posted by Enrique Orozco Robles

... I think we lost something nice and special that menus provide with the DVD demise !! ....

But if you use Taky's usb stick you have not lost those nice and special menus, it's all still there and at a high quality.

Who would want to pay that subscription fee and send a client those add ons.

I know some that use Taky's solution to give their clients a usb stick with a menu, it just looks much nicer then a simple file on a usb stick, it is also the only way, as far as I know, to have a menu structure like on a blu-ray and dvd with HD mp4 files on a usb stick and it works on any tv, since that was what Arthur was asking for he will either have to go for that solution or just copy his files onto a usb stick.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Taky usb flash menu is a good solution for those who want to provide a refined menu interface for playback on a computer. A wedding studio who does a large volume it might make financial sense to pay the subscription fee for this added feature. Since I was once a web designer and have familiarity with the technology involved I think it's overpriced.

The dongle thing isn't a good delivery method and we both agree on that.

In addition the way he presents his product is very confusing. What exactly is the subscription fee getting you. Is he customizing menus for each client? Are you getting an authoring tool to build your menus? Or are you paying all that money just to use a generic template?

[Roger Gunkel]

I don't see what everyone is worried about, we had VHS with no menus and clunky plastic housings plus a big lump of machinery to play it, then DVD with pretty menus and nice slim discs that played in a smaller machine and now we have USBs that don't require any machine and you can play it straight into your tv, laptop or anything with a USB slot. Some USB sticks even have a second connector to plug straight into your smart phone. Does it really matter that the client doesn't have a selection of pictures to choose from rather than a list of section titles?

LIke Chris, I've never had a client complain about the lack of a menu and I'm not convinced that most of them even use them. I'm sad to see the demise of the universal DVD, but then I was sad to see CDs replace vinyl and mp3s replace CDs, but that's progress for you :-)

Roger

[Noa Put]

I don't care much for this fancy kind of delivery, I just pointed it out for Arthur as a option. I prefer to just copy paste onto a usb stick. If I was able to just give the client a download option only I would be happy.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

If you want to present your films in a professional way to your client this seems like the only option available at this moment that will work with any TV.

And, of course, each one costs $50. And, on top of that, who is going to be responsible for tech support should the thing stop working? Arthur?

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Now I"m not promoting that dongle as I still deliver a HD mp4 file on a regular usb stick but I stopped delivering dvd's, only do Blu-ray now and I have dvd as a paid option.

Then maybe you shouldn't be presenting it as a solution when it's entirely the anthesis of the solution Arthur was looking for.

[Chris Harding]

I would guess that most brides would watch their wedding start to end on their first viewing and once the USB loads up on the TV and you start the first clip it tends to then autoplay the entire collection pretty seamlessly. I really don't think it would be a sales killer if you didn't have a fancy menu I like the idea of having downloads too but are we talking full resolution files here ...What about the poor bride that doesn't have super fast broadband?? Even a modest 1920x1080 MP4 file of a civil ceremony rendered at 16mbps that runs for 20 minutes is going to be a tad over 1GB which will be frustrating to download with a poor connection. I guess every delivery method has it's downfalls!!

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Even a modest 1920x1080 MP4 file of a civil ceremony rendered at 16mbps that runs for 20 minutes is going to be a tad over 1GB which will be frustrating to download with a poor connection. I guess every delivery method has it's downfalls!!

One thing worth mentioning is that a lot of Smart TVs will only read FAT32 formatted USB sticks, so make sure no single file is over 4GB.

[Enrique Orozco Robles]

this is a nice option if you have access to internet:

https://mediazilla.com

.... I don´t like the pricing, but maybe others can afford it ....

[Arthur Gannis]

From what I have been getting as feedback from several of my past and future booked clients is that the DVD was very nice with nice picture/video chapter markers but many of my past clients are dumping their DVD players as they are outdated and many are just keeping them around just to view their wedding video. All movies and collection of their DVD movies are easily accessible over the internet.Many are quitting holding on to their DVD movie collections as they have done so with their VHS's. Secondly, they want a higher quality/resolution of their wedding as long gone are the days that a 32 inch tele was king. Around these parts most have a 40 inch as the minimum living room size and the norm is a 55 to 65 inch. Their husbands like their sports on a very large screen. With the prices dropping on 4K, almost everyone soon will afford and acquire one. Brides, according to my inquiries, just don't want DVD's anymore. They have seen friend's weddings on a USB and want that cool little thingy too. It was horrible to watch a DVD on a 60 inch display. 4K will do it justice as many are requesting that this year. Which leaves me to ponder about that 4GB file limit that was mentioned in that FAT 32 limit. What is needed is a USB that can deliver 4K contact for at least an hour uninterrupted. For now I can get away with fancy chapter markers, but a 4GB file limit I cannot work with that.
I know my clients very well. They want simplicity. Yes, I know that in the past they were very content with VHS and wires and 720 X 480 but over the years they slowly were being spoiled. Now they want the Holy Grail.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Arthur

I have always done my weddings by event ..so 1 clip for the prep, one for the arrival, one or two for the ceremony etc etc so files rarely exceed 20 minutes which is only 1GB .... I'm assuming you render the wedding in one HUGE file??? Even on DVD if you use the clips start as a chapter it plays seamlessly and on USB it's the same ...just make sure none of your clips are more than 4GB ..if you are doing 1920x1080 at 16mbps as an MP4 ...it takes just under 80 minutes for the file to exceed 4GB ...if you don't want to split just split pre reception video as one file and reception as the other ..both will be under 4GB

[Taky Cheung]

Thanks Noa :)

I work very hard to put together this solution to add professional DVD style menu to USB drive and online delivery. Menu and video play back are HTML5 thus requiring a browser. it is not meant to be for TV play back.

For USB delivery, all videos are in the USB drive playing back locally. No internet is required. playback is all inclusive.

For online delivery, videos need to be on YouTube, Vimeo, or Dropbox. There are several hosting options. we can host the project at takybox.com. Or we can register a new domain name so the project will be pushed automatically. Or if you want to host under your current existing domain, you will need to find out if you have FTP access to host the files.

The basic12 month subscription include accessing the TakyBox Console to create projects, menus and button linking. There is naother service options to be able to download a zip file with all content included (except videos that you need to copy to the folders after unzip).

This is a project that I delivered to my client.

http://lacolorfilms.com/rachel-rod

The USB option would be exactly the same. All the files are included in the uSB drive. Double click the start up html file will open up the computer default browser. and playback from there without the need of internet.

[Taky Cheung]

Many think they have a smart TV and the USB drive should play video. But in reality, they only have a regular TV with a USB port., They aren't SmartTV.

So playing back TakyBox content on TV is challenging. So I think out of the box. I come up the solution to deliver on a HDMI Dongle. The dongle will be powered by USB (like chromecast). and I bundled it with a remote control. So customers can watch their wedding film on TV, completely replace the need for DVD or BluRay.

I worked with the supplier and software vendor to tuned the system (it's running Android) that lock down the system to boot directly to TakyBox menu. Playback video form the menu. There is no user interaction or setup. User can't jump to home screen, switch app, or change Android settings. It's all lockdown, to have the dongle to do one thing only, play takybox menu and video.

It comes with a MicroUSB card. You can format the card as FAT32 or NTFS. With NTFS, there is no 4GB per file limit. I am able to playback up to 35mbps mp4 files. Compared to youtube or vimeo that was transcoded to about 10mbps, 25 to 30mbps is quite high quality playback. No 4GB limit to worry.

TakyBox also handle chapter mark creation for long video file too.

Fo rmy wedding clients, i deliver USB and online as default. The dongle is an upsell for $199. I sell the dongle +remote control for $49. the difference is just profit by copying the same USB files to the dongle microSD card.

another benefits, if you want to deliver video to your client but don't them to own a copy of the phsyical file, deliver with the dongle. Use some permanent tape or super glue to seal the opening of the card slot. I purposely disabled the USB mass storage function on the dongle, it is only for HDMI playback. Can't connect to cmoputer. Some laptop has HDMI port, but its' for output only. Not for input.

a simple demo video of the dongle playback here.

Introducing the TakyBox HDMI Player - YouTube

I also setup the HDMI Dongle using it in bridal show to demo my work. The loop feature in TakyBox makes it a perfect settings. No need to connect with laptop or DVD player.

TakyBox HDMI TV Player at Wedding Expo - YouTube