Nick's DVD for $50, worth cost?

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:53 pm

win --- win????

Ed

[quote="a1gutterman"]I own volumes 12 through 24. I did knot buy them]

jimthej · Post by **jimthej** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:09 pm

I also acquired some that way. Have looked through them. The value is in the project plans included. Have used some of the plans. Some, but not all are available in the Hands On Archive. As a freebie they were worth the cost.
[quote="a1gutterman"]I own volumes 12 through 24. I did knot buy them]

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:38 pm

I bought them. Even though I've had my Shopsmith since '83, I can still learn. Nick knows the Shopsmith from A to Z and there is little doubt that this old dog will learn some new tricks.

I also have a son and son-in-law who will want to see them.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:27 pm

8iowa wrote:I bought them. Even though I've had my Shopsmith since '83, I can still learn. Nick knows the Shopsmith from A to Z and there is little doubt that this old dog will learn some new tricks.

I also have a son and son-in-law who will want to see them.

If you please, post your thoughts here after viewing.

Thank you,

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:48 pm

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how these DVDs can be anything else but repackaged Sawdust Sessions and maybe Shop Tips, just like the V-Books obviously are. Shopsmith discontinued Nick's services several months ago and I find it extremely unlikely that Nick has been producing different video content from the Sawdust Sessions while not on the payroll as a full-fledged or contract employee. I don't see anything in the descriptions indicating any new material - SS does specifically say they are for prospective or new owners.

I guess for posterity's sake and easy access, having the Sawdust Session content on DVD would be useful, but $25 per DVD seems a little steep, especially considering some of the relatively poor video and audio quality of the earlier Sessions before they got alot of the problems ironed out.

That being said, I would be interested in comments from those who purchase the DVDs, specifically in regards to new content and video/audio quality.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:10 am

Remember, please, the quality problems that plagued the early Sawdust Sessions all had to do with the internet. The sessions were recorded and could have been used to do the DVDs/CDs with NONE of the internet related issues.

headstock · Post by **headstock** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:38 am

any talk lately about training around the country. anybody still interested in some kind of academy, workshop, etc.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:54 pm

dusty wrote:Remember, please, the quality problems that plagued the early Sawdust Sessions all had to do with the internet. The sessions were recorded and could have been used to do the DVDs/CDs with NONE of the internet related issues.

Dusty,

You are probably mostly correct with this statement about the quality, but I don't think it all had to do with the internet. I know alot of the problems with the "real-time" sessions were internet issues, but I think the content uploaded for viewing is a different animal. If the internet was solely responsible for quality issues, I think there would've been a much more noticeable improvement in quality to the uploaded content earlier in the process. I'm pretty sure they changed upgraded both equipment and software as the process went along to increase quality. It took them awhile to get decent quality content viewable in a web browser - some of the earlier sessions are almost unwatchable. That's not necessarily the fault of the internet, it's more likely the fault of questionable source material and/or audio/video processing software.

However, if the recorded source material is good enough quality and they've made the effort and expense to produce it properly, the DVDs may be very good even as repackaged material. As I previously stated, I am interested to hear the input from those who have decided to purchase the product.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:14 pm

nutball wrote:Dusty,

You are probably mostly correct with this statement about the quality, but I don't think it all had to do with the internet. I know alot of the problems with the "real-time" sessions were internet issues, but I think the content uploaded for viewing is a different animal. If the internet was solely responsible for quality issues, I think there would've been a much more noticeable improvement in quality to the uploaded content earlier in the process. I'm pretty sure they changed upgraded both equipment and software as the process went along to increase quality. It took them awhile to get decent quality content viewable in a web browser - some of the earlier sessions are almost unwatchable. That's not necessarily the fault of the internet, it's more likely the fault of questionable source material and/or audio/video processing software.

However, if the recorded source material is good enough quality and they've made the effort and expense to produce it properly, the DVDs may be very good even as repackaged material. As I previously stated, I am interested to hear the input from those who have decided to purchase the product.

All I am trying to say is I believe they had quality source data that could have been used to produce CDs/DVDs. Video was recorded even for those sessions that came across the internet very poorly. It is the recorded video that would have been source and NOT the internet product.

timster68 · Post by **timster68** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:09 pm

I have to chime in here since I deal with compressing video (SD and HD) every day in addition to authoring DVD's too many to count.

It looks from the topics from those DVDs that they are just redone from the Sawdust sessions. That being said, you can only hope that they recorded the presentations to tape since the streaming quality is certainly not "TV Quality". Even if they did record to tape and the picture image is better quality, the camera work left A LOT to be desired. Not enough closeups of what was going on - too many wideshots. So the value of the "DVDs" would be of questionable value given the price/tax/shipping costs.

I'm not trying to belittle any of the work Nick/Drew did. I appreciated it and learned quite a bit from it and I wish they could continue. However as a video professional I found the quality lacking and thus I can't see a lot of value in them priced where they currently are. I had ordered the Rick Davis DVD a while and found some DVD authoring issues that should have been caught if the DVD were properly QC'd.

I do like Shopsmith and their products, but when it comes to video I get rather picky.

-Tim

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Nick's DVD for $50, worth cost?

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