Joined: 4/11/2006
Posts: 487
Location: North of Russia :[
The problem is that nothing stops one from cropping places with watermark. Another good solution would be title like on music channels, popping from the bottom in a few seconds semi-transparent thing with text ^^
Well you can alway put two little watermark almost invisible on top left and bottom right, if they crop the video, there will be some information missing.
The problem is that nothing stops one from cropping places with watermark. Another good solution would be title like on music channels, popping from the bottom in a few seconds semi-transparent thing with text ^^
I think our main goal is to clarify whether a video is tool assisted or not to a random user. If they see a run on a site like youtube with no proper comments (or if they dont' read the comments), the user should be able to gather that the run is tool-assisted or not, based on warning, and maybe watermarks.
Button presses may or may not prevent this, but I'm sure it would get a suspecting user's attention: ("hey the <,^,> characters are being pressed in a pattern I recognize")
If someone forcefully removes a watermark, it's tough to do anything. So I would just throw those cases out of the window, and hope for the best (isolated incidents, few and far between).
Sorry for the warpish post, I need to wrap up my thoughts.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I've stated this before and I'll state it again: I'm pertinently against further obscuring or harming of the original video content by means of stamping information on them.
Originally, there was just a quick message stating that the run you're about to view is a tool-assisted movie, and that you should go to TASVideos to learn more about them. Then came the repeating of that message after the intro, sometimes during a critical moment or the "heart" of the game.
And now it's said that we should get a watermark to go along with all of that. I don't find it a good idea at all, and I hope that this will not happen. To me, the benefits don't outweigh the disadvantages.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
DK64_MASTER wrote:
I suppose the best "relevant" watermarking would be to encode the video with the button presses included (is that possible)?
It's relevant to the run, but can also be obtrusive to the viewer.
While I would like keypresses to be included in the avi, it would not be very hard to edit them out/simply explain away. Most people might not even notice arrows popping around down there.
ZeXr0 wrote:
Wouldn't in be possible to put a little black line at the bottom of the movie file with the information, like a couple of pixel? or to keep proportion, having a line at bottom and at right?
If someone were to upload their 'stolen' movie file to a site that has a small video box (say, YouTube), a 2pixel line wouldn't even show up. I also doubt that you could fit anything within a 5 pixel thick horizontal line worthy of writing.
If we are seriously only trying to stop people from passing off our work as their own, watermarks and additionally intrusive texts won't stop them. You guys are overestimating the stopping power of watermarks. Think of it this way: if I wanted to pass off adelikat's SPO! run as my own on Youtube, one of three things will happen.
I will realize that there are too many disclaimers in the published version, and give up. This is good.
I will notice and edit out the initial disclaimer, but overlook the ones in the middle of the movie file. I post the edited version, someone points out that there is a disclaimer, and I have to pull it off the web to save face.
I notice and edit out the initial disclaimer, notice the rest of the disclaimers, get pissed off, and encode the run myself to ensure no disclaimers (hey, I might even add my own!). You will have a really hard time proving that this is not my work, especially when the majority of the internet is full of gullible people.
That being said, we can't really actively fight 'theft' on this site. If we implement watermarks, we're only going to encourage people to encode their own movie files. By doing what we're doing, we have a much higher chance of some jerk slipping up and including our disclaimers in his version of the file. As has been stated many times before, the only true way to avoid 'theft' of the work on this site is to close off all access to the input files to anyone but judges/publishers.
Joined: 4/11/2006
Posts: 487
Location: North of Russia :[
It can be shown while there's no action on that part of the screen, it can't be cut without damaging video or losing part of it, it's cute :D It's hard to do on enoder's side ;_;
If someone wishes to encode the movie himself... Well, you are free to ask, why is his movie absolutely similar to one on tasvideos :D
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Wow, thats like 15% of the screen being intruded on. Even when there isn't a lot of action on screen, I'd still rather focus on a small amount of action than a text box popping up.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/5900/bhardnb8.jpg
I don't have any image editor for this, so the quality is blurry a little, but with some alpha on the text, and a better quality, I don't think it will be obstructing something.
What about some TV channels that put their logo in watermark once in a while ? You don't have to show it ofter and not for long, but once in a while, and with some alpha in it. That would make people encode their video, but not much of them would do it.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
zefiris, I can understand wanting to put a watermark on the movies (even though I disagree with it), but such a huge one? Why would you need to do that? It even contains an obtrusive warning at the bottom that tells you the movie is tool-assisted, ending with an exclamation point.
I feel that people who want to steal movies, will steal movies by simply re-encoding them from emulator movies.
Watermarks can be cropped away and obstruct the view for legitimate users.
Besides, nothing stops someone from stamping their own watermark or URL over the displayed information; we've already seen someone that stole the Araknoid (non-warped, old) run and shoved a URL below the paddle.
In short, you'd be obstructing the view for legitimate users, and the original problem remains unsolved.
I am against watermarks.
I'm also against watermarks.
But on a related note. There was once a discussion about providing keypresses via subtitle files. What did happen to that?
cu
Fabian
... when did people here become so abrasive? It's a real problem, and he's suggesting an honest solution. No need to treat him like a jerk.
I have said in the past that I think the disclaimer intro could be longer and more obvious (a few seconds of big letters before the game starts would be enough), but this doesn't seem to be liked.
This doesn't help the problem with people stealing the movies, removing disclaimers, putting them up somewhere else, but it does help lessen the confusion when the movies are passed around otherwise.
I doubt people would go through the trouble to encode their own movies (has this EVER happened?) but a watermark will just be pasted over anyway.
[Edit by Bisqwit: Replaced an attacking word with a descriptive clause. Please try to not use aggressive words like that.]
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Truncated wrote:
I doubt people would go through the trouble to encode their own movies (has this EVER happened?) but a watermark will just be pasted over anyway.
Yes, I've seen one or two people do it before. A lot of people also encode their own movies for YouTube (such as antd encoding his own version of Comicalflop's run) without adding disclaimers or linking to WhyAndHow. While that isn't theft, it does lead to confusion and other bad stuff.
It can be shown while there's no action on that part of the screen, it can't be cut without damaging video or losing part of it, it's cute :D It's hard to do on enoder's side ;_;
If someone wishes to encode the movie himself... Well, you are free to ask, why is his movie absolutely similar to one on tasvideos :D
