OFF: Converting vid formats

[cjohnson]

       I'm pretty certain I know which vid this one is.  It is quite
       possibly from Cricket St.Thomas, 6/4/83, about 110min.

       I have a copy that was converted from PAL at some point, but the
       original quality was never better than "bootleg" quality.  The vid
       starts with a view of a field (late afternoon), with long-hairs
       scattered around in small groups.  You see a half-dome type shell
       where the band will later play.  Then, the vid switches to night,
       and Nik is running a wet-tshirt contest (pretty regular event at HW
       gigs, IMO).  Then, another cut, and the band starts playing.

       If you want, I may even have prepared a tracklist already, for
       comparison to _your_ tape.  And, this vid is not exactly a common
       one among HW traders, probably due to the poor picture quality.  I
       don't know any other (US) traders that have a better copy.

       My copy shows the washed-out look of too many generations.  All
       persons are silver/white, with most detail and shadowing lost from
       their appearance.  I identify HW members by voice when they speak,
       rather than looks.  My copy was a "camera transfer", meaning that a
       camcorder was used to convert from PAL-to-NTSC.  This results in a
       continual flickering throughout the entire vid.

       When I have received PAL videos before, and I've played them back
       on an NTSC VCR, the picture is completely scrambled.  The effect is
       similar to VCR heads that refuse to track correctly (out of sync).
       Any "washed-out" effect is merely due to multi-generations, and
       possibly a poor PAL-to-NTSC conversion (such as a camera transfer).

       Hopefully this is pretty close to the mark.  Cheers!


       Captain Cloud
       cjohnson at sur1a.hpsc.hisd.harris.com