Anybody want to take over these forums or tell me why I shouldn't close them?

Should I pour a drink and toast 'Absent Friends'.    .

I should let sleeping toms lie Robert

People still find them useful & your work in maintaining them is appreciated, even if we did cross swords some years back! 
 So please continue the good work.

Sorry, Bob, but this site has never recovered from
a) the long delay before it was resurrected after the hack
b) the unfriendly design decisions that were made when it (slowly) came back to life.
c) the attitude of one particular moderator (not you, Bob!) when the site came back

The world has moved on.

People who would once have bought camcorders now get all they need from their mobile phones.

Then there were the industry mistakes:-

There was a gap of several years (before HD) when the corporate / wedding / event trade needed native 16:9 DV camcorders but there were none available.
The designers of editing software chose to bring out new programs that left out essential features and best practice of earlier software.
There were long delays between a) the advent of DVDs and the availability of recordable DVD and b) the advent of Blu-ray and the availability of recordable Blu-ray. The take-up of Blu-ray in particular for corporate / wedding / event was crippled by the  manufacturer's format wars.

There were years when I went around the trade shows with money to spend but what I would have liked to buy was either not available or was too deeply flawed. Then came a plateau. To produce an acceptable product for corporate / wedding / event no longer needed the purchase of new gear. Now, people can do it themselves with a phone and a laptop. The world moves on.

On the brighter side, there are, I'm sure, many people out there who remember with fondness your time editing our favourite magazine, from the first issue of Computer Video (May/June 1997 Desktop Editing - three complete solutions from £290 to £5000) to that last issue of the renamed Computer Video Editing with its gloriously saucy cover (February 2005 Wet Dream or Damp Squib?). (I have the complete set!).
Thank you for those buccaneering days, when you had the courage to publish real reviews, rather than re-hashes of manufacturer's blurb, and gave us up-to-date news of a fast-changing industry.

Would hate to see this disappear , and will pop in more often , get back into the world of video.

Not been an overwhelming response has there?

My problem is that I don't feel it makes any sense for me to lay out over £300 every year when so few people get so little benefit.

I personally get none at all (and can't remember when I last did or, indeed, if I ever did).

Cheers

Bob

Gary,

Regardless of whether these forums live or die, I'm glad to see you back in the world of the living.

Cheers

Bob

Ray,

Thanks for the kind words.

But I really I wish you hadn't mentioned the first issue.

It may well be the case that that particularly ugly brute gave me sufficient confidence in my own judgement to turn CV into what it became (for much of its life).

But whether or not it did do that, it deeply scared me because of how very poor it was (not a viewpoint shared by my superiors at the time, as I remember, who had approved all the rubbish graphic design it contained).

That first issue was a horrible thing to look at - unreadable in places - and had articles from some writers (well, definitely one) whom I never used again and who hadn't a clue how to string words together to make a coherent whole.

Cheers

Bob
 

Barry,

I think we are going to have to disagree about this matter, as well.

;-)

I am around again , and answering what i can.
I didn't intend to stay away as long as i did, i did pop in now and then to see what was going on.
I would hate to see this fold , but understand about the outlay , a reason another site i was involved in closed down , as it was costing approx  £1200 a year to run, and only 3 or 4 people contributing , it became hard going.

Folks,

This is what Martin, emailed me last night:
========
I've looked into some options for DVDoctor.

I'm thinking that I'll lock the forums, remove the left side bar, and remove the last post times.

Then spider the site downloading each page as a flat file.

I can then move that over to my shared hosting server and run it from there for no real cost.
========

I've not yet replied but I think Martin is saying that we can still READ the postings on the forums but never be able to post to it again.

If I've understood, that looks very much like the best I'm able to achieve.

Thoughts, please.

Cheers

Bob

If read only is only possible solution, that is better than the forums disappearing

Bob - is there any reason you actually want to close them down - I just looked at the topics over the years I have posted in and they all seem to contain problems and solutions, and in many - damn good advice.

I understand that they need time, effort and money to keep going, having similar issues myself - BUT - people do appreciate the content, and while of course, sometimes you get weird attitudes and petty squabbles, that's kind of par for the course. Personally, even though I now don't use the forum that much, having less available time, I'd hate to see it go, and archives, if read-only, rarely attract much attention, because many people want immediate answers, so you just end up with ancient info.

Many contributors here also are on other popular forums, I don't see that as being bad. The forum is still current - Digital Video is still current.
Paul

Hi Bob,

Mothballing the content at little to no cost would be better than hitting the delete button.

Do I miss the help, support and advice I've had here over the years? Hell yes - and I miss the characters (some anyway), meet ups at trade shows and the like.

Lots of good people and very fond memories.

Gavin

paulears,

As I said in this thread on Jan 20:

My problem is that I don't feel it makes any sense for me to lay out over £300 every year when so few people get so little benefit.

I personally get none at all (and can't remember when I last did or, indeed, if I ever did).

Actually, it's nearer to £350.

Cheers

Bob

Gavin,

I feel the same way, of course.

But I can't turn back the clock and I can't justify the expense.

Far from incidentally, does anyone know if Alan Roberts is still around - Googling for him only brings up old stuff.

Cheers

Bob

I guess it boils down to one simple thing. Do you personally feel that the site costs are something you can justify? If yes - carry on, but ff the £350 (which seems mega excessive, to be honest) is becoming annoying, then pulling the plug and moving on is best. 

Re: Alan - Yes, still around, he's very active on the Guild of Television Cameramen forum.
Paul

paulears,

Glad to hear that!

Last I'd heard of him he'd been very poorly (this was a long while ago, though).

Thanks.

Cheers

Bob

So, are then any mugs out there who want to stump up nearly £350 a year to host these forums?

I'll leave that question hanging until this time next week and, if there are no takers, I'll ask Martin to set the ball rolling.

Cheers

Bob

Before the Great Crash, this forum performed the same useful function for video that, for example, the Blue Room (for theatre and events technicians) and Sound On Sound (for audio recording) still do. There were lots of practitioners who could give advice from their first-hand experience.

The momentum that maintained the forum (where it was worth checking every day) was lost when it was down for too long. People drifted away.  I still reckon that the layout when it came back was inferior to what it was before and, of course, initially it was very, very, slow. For anyone coming upon it for the first time today, to find categories for 'FAST-Dazzle (!), for example, must seem very odd.

Put it out of its misery, Bob

(if this site was running on phpBB, I'd cheer you up with a pic of the merry bunch manning the DV Doctor stand at the Video Forum 2005)

Thanks for all the all memories and good sound advice Bob. in the magazine, on the forum and behind the scenes
Thanks to all the members past and present
Thanks to Martin working behind the scenes, ridding the forum of most of the rubbish spam,scam posts at source.
I stopped moderating here October 19, 2015 - 17:13 and the forum has more or less kept itself clean since then, quite an achievement

Also thanks to Tony Carter, a major mover alerting me behind the scenes when things were in flux during the last few years, which definitely helped Bob and Martin fix a few loopholes.

I understand Bob 100% and I'm surprised he has funded the forum for so long, I'm glad the forum will be kept read only, it has been a major part of our lives

Sadly Digital Video has moved on and the current flavour is to film on your phone and share via social media
One tip for newbies filming with your phone, always always tip your phone on it's side and film Landscape, never vertically as it looks rubbish on TV 

Here are some of my historic photos from way back then

Computer Video Stand 2003 2nd February 2003


OK this was me with Alfred at the ADS Pyro stand, Firewire ruled then 

Computer Video Stand 12th February 2004

DVD Doctor Stand 26th January 2005
















Bob having  chat with Alfred from ADS

There you go, some of my memories of three visits to London, I hope you recognise some of the faces  

John,

Terrific pics!

I might be overlooking someone but it seems to me that everyone who was anyone associated with the mag and the forums is in there somewhere.

Oh, but my, oh my, wasn't I somewhat overweight!

My guess is that I was about 14.5 stone back then, which compares with my currently flexible weight of between 10st 13lb and 11st 5lb.

Probably it was the rice pudding that was to blame (and very delicious it was, too!), not my own eating habits.

I still have the recipe and have cooked it a good few times (though not in recent years).

Thanks for the memories!

Cheers

Bob

PS - although I'm now a slimmer Bob, people might like to know that I'm a much greyer Bob, too.

And one who had open surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm at the tail end of Oct 2016 (and have, so my surgeon tells me) made a full recovery.

I lived in fear for close to two years, waiting and expecting that I'd been in pain and discomfort for at least three months afterwards.

Turns out, I was discharged on the Tuesday, off of pain-killers by the Thursday and, within 10 days was able to walk as far as I wanted without needing to have a sleep afterwards.

Very, very lucky, me thinks.

Well done John, your pics must remind us all how the forum used to be, and maybe would still be if one or two members had'nt put peoples' backs up with so many cryptic remarks. I know of a few members who drifted away rather than put up with it.

Tony,

I reckon that Ray's analysis of MARKET trends is closer to the mark.

The world changed.

The forums were always going to go downhill after that, it's just that I was too optimistic not to know.

Cheers

Bob

Hi Bob

Tony, Ray and you are all correct  

In my analysis, the crash could have been managed better without alienating long time members, although the forum works fine nowadays, especially from a security point of view.

Moving onto more important things,  I am very glad to hear that your operation was a success, may you live a long and healthy life, this goes for all members past and present as well, health is everything.

The 2005 picture of Ray with the great Alan Roberts on the screen was a milestone in my filming editing hobby, I bought the Sony Handycam HDR-FX1E on the back of seeing it in action at the DV Doctor stand, although the audio is terrible and harsh,

I'm still using it 12 years later for filming school plays, now plugged into my Dell D630 laptop with firewire and saving the live footage directly to passport dive on USB, not a glitch and unlimited recording length as  I don't use tape, direct connection to the laptop is only suitable for a static position near a power supply, there's no time lost transferring the tape to the computer, I also have a Panny HD camcorder which uses a SD card and is my main portable device which can capture footage that a big camera never will as it's so inconspicuous. 

I don't have a  Computer Tower nowadays, one old secondhand Dell laptop with firewire and another five year old Toshiba laptop for editing with Sony Movie Studio Platinum works very well for me + a trusty Sony mini-disk recorder for a audio source and another Sony Card recorder for ambiance. DVD Duplication is so easy with a few USB powered external DVD writers, although they do wear out.

The Professionals will scoff, however it works for me and my hobby.

Finally a Big Thanks to Bob for funding this fantastic resource for nearly two decades http://www.bobcrabtree.co.uk/about-me

A toast to Bob Hic! 

John, I'll bet Fergie won't be long in posting after seeing this photo.

Also add my farewells to all the members. Have enjoyed looking at the photo's you posted and it brought back many good memories even although I was never in a position to attend and never had the opportunity to taste Mrs Chirpy's rice pudding. BTw will we still be able to contact via PM's?

Harry

The guy on the left of the first picture I posted looks familiar, it can't be....can it?

If it isn't it must his twin!

.  Doppelgangers R Us.  

.. .   " />

Harry was right.  Saw the photos of the whiskies and was compelled to go and pour one of my own.

Cheers.

ps.. if you all go away  

Harry,

No, PMs will disappear.

If people want to stay in contact, I'm happy to receive PMs BEFORE we pull the plug.

Give me you email address if you want me to pass it around (best to say to whom and if you know, who not to pass it on to) and I'll do that if possible.

Better do that quickly, though, or send to my email address, which is accessible from my web site.

However, under no circumstances, post it in an open forum!

Cheers

Bob

Thanks Bob for that offer. At he moment I have e-mail addresses of some of the ones I would like to keep in contact with.  The PM's was just a thought. Best of luck for whatever the future holds and thanks for all the help in the past. It's been a pleasure and an experience to have been part of what is now history but the world and technology must move on.

Regards

Harry

Thanks Bob, No one can say that they haven't had fair warning of the impending action

Do you have a date in mind yet?

Cheers

John,

Likely to be this Thursday, Feb 9.

Cheers

Bob

Thank for the switch off  date Bob

At least we are going out on a high with Gary back to help/answer with almost any query

Electronics/Computers is one of my many hobbies and if I ever wanted a possible solution to any problem, this forum was the first place to search or ask

I along with many will shed a tear, however we all move on and so has the wondrous electronic world

I am really surprised that you funded the forums as long as you did, I was expecting this day to come a couple of years ago

A very sincere thank you

Best wishes

John

Can anyone give me some suggestions for good/helpful alternative forum(s). I am sure that some of you will have recommendations. Thanks

I have enjoyed reading the various posts over the last 15 years or so. I haven't had much to contribute - nor for that mater, many problems that needed sorting out. But I have enjoyed following through threads where your problems are brought up and usually solved by others' help. Such a vast pool of knowledge and experience. It is this which has made me check in most days.
So thank you all.

In the early 1950's I sold newspaers on the street after school as a 12 and 13 year old to raise money for my first 8mm cine camera - a Meopta, which I still have in my collection although the spring has rusted up. Totally inspired each month by the Amature Cine World magazine - anyone remember it?  By the end of my teenage years I was shooting 16mm, and at twenty Saturday work for a wedding photographer using Rolleiflex. Becoming a teacher and having to do country service gave me a chance to shoot and submit a TV news item which not only got screened but got me a stringer contract and by extension radio and print correspondent contracts. That all stopped when I went to teach in the Pacific for a while. I was a social studies teacher, but for the final half of my career moved into helping found Media Studies in New Zealand high schools. This had a strong practical component in my classes extending into our own low power tv channel (legal) and a low power FM  station as well. Both 24/7.  This then led to the school building professonal standard studio and supporting suites.

Since I retired 2008 I have continued my interests in photography, video, travel. All as a hobby of course and combining the three as much as possible. The videos end up on www.youtube.com/user/GORDONLAWRENCEVIDEOS  for anyone interested.

Current equipment: Lumix GH2, Lumix GX7, extra lenses Lumix 7-14mm, Samyang 7.5mm and a variety of OM legacy lenses. Zoom H2, Sony hand recorder, various microphones, 2 LED portable lights(one small on camera type for travel) , a collection of tripods and monopods (mostly Manfrotto). SJ4000 actioncam
Edit on: a PC desktop locally assembled. ( i7 3.4 GHz, 500GB SDD and 1TB HDD, 16GB ram) includes firewire for my old HD tapes.   DELL Latitude i7 2.8GHz 340GB SSD 8GB ram (used for travel mainly editing on the go, downloading dailies to laptop and external HD)  Both run Windows 10   Both computers run 64 bit Lots of extrnal HD's back up and storeage
Sortware: Magix Video Pro X  Magix Music Maker Movie score Edition,   On the DELL is Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016

So now after all these years, you can know who I am. Just in time to say 'Goodbye and Thanks to all, especially Bob for maintaining the site' and yes I was a Camcorder User reader for most of the issues - just missed the first few.

Best wishes
Gordon

Still Blasting From the Past
Mooblie's Party


Alan Roberts on Last of The Summer Wine

Bob in the USA with snow


Empire State Building

Anyone remember Ian at LynxDV?

A memory of Tennis, Elbow with GeeCee and Evans David

All the best to everyone on the forum!

If anyone wants to contact me it can be done so via www.videos4all.org

We are currently on holiday in Oz & NZ :-)

Ah the memories. Thanks John for these. Remember Ian well as an excellent company to deal with. Anyone know what happened to him? Also Geecee, sad day when he passed away and it seems such a long time ago. A good thing about technology is that these memories will be there for a long time.

Thanks to Gordon for his "life" story. Wish I had the time (and memory recall) to write mine.

Harry

I was browsing the forum and came across this post -

'I have belatedly found that the SimplyDV board has finished, it is a shame and all credit to Colin for running it so well.
The reasons appeared to be citing falling membership and interest, it took a few months for them to decide
and I wondered if this is likely to affect DVdoctor as well?'

It was posted by Evans David in April 2007, so we have been very lucky to last this long.  (Well I think so) Thanks Bob.

Thanks, Bob, for supporting the DV Forum for as long as you have.

My work with video (and audio) continues with projects of all shapes and sizes - though these days I can afford to do it on the basis of whether or not I fancy the job.

I'll be at the Broadcast Video Expo again this year to keep an eye on trends (fascinating to see how 'the next big thing', 3D for example, can take a nosedive after only a year or so).

Best of luck to all.

Ray

I've just come over to say goodbye really. The whole site has been a tremendous help to me over the years and although I don't visit here very often it's always good to know it exists.
I too will go to BVE but the Video Forum it ain't. So long folks. Keep making films.
Tom.

Although I'm very much a junior member here, I have always enjoyed visiting over the years, and have learned a great deal from some really knowledgeable members.... thanks guys..

I too shall be sorry to see it go -- although as others have already said, the 'video world' is a very different place these days....bit sad really.....

Nice to see Geecee being mentioned. It was indeed a sad day when he passed away and a great loss to the forum.

We swapped numerous emails that involved clandestine plotting on the 'Adventures of FiFI'

Cheers.

Yep GeeCee was a great contributor, Many of us appreciated his input as remembered here:
http://www.dvforums.com/forums/geecee

We had some great questions over the years and even better answers from the members who often went beyond the call of duty

Good Health everyone

One more historical thread from December 2004 when Computer Video ceased publication
http://www.dvforums.com/forums/computer-video-magazine-cease-publication-3

A memorable quote from the thread

As a relative newcomer I have learned a lot from you guys over the years so thanks to you all and especially Bob for keeping it all going.
Anybody got any thoughts on where we can go now  to pose questions and get answers?

Cheers everyone
Tony

Gosh John, reading back through that long thread 'CV will close' brought back a ton of memories. So many names, and they all felt like close friends of mine. I did some product reviews for CV back then and I'm pretty sure I've kept copies of the mag in my garage somewhere. Good days.
tom.

Well - rather sad, but all good things must end, I guess.
Best wishes to all, and I guess a few I'll see on DVX & DVI.
Paul

This Computer Video link for posterity
http://www.computervideo.net/contact.html

Also a list of every article title (not the article) that featured in the magazine from May 1997- Feb 2005  is available to download here:
http://www.computervideo.net/reprints.html
You can't get the reprints any more and any links that work after 13 years obviously aren't valid now
Example of an article title

Another  nostalgia trip for all of older members

However many of the archived reviews and News from March 2001 - Feb 2005 are available here:
http://www.computervideo.net/archive.html

This is a bit like sending a time capsule into outer space 

The last issue

Cheers Bob, you have done us proud

   Bye to all
And best wishes.

Cheers

Yes , good luck to all of those working with and enjoying Digital Video.

Well it's time to say thank you to all those that have helped me in the past, either directly or through reading the posts.

I hope I was also able to help some members.

I think Gary is the only member I have knowingly met (briefly).

Good Luck to all.