help! [how do I make AMVs?]

[Otohiko]

Well actually, my point does counter that quite effectively. A good up-to-date computer, if like me you see it as a hobby tool first and foremost, runs you a couple of thousand bucks. And if your hobby is cars or... planes... you know...

Don't worry though. It's all just for the sake of healthy argument.

And I sympathise with the sentiment somewhat, too. I mean... guess who is too broke to buy anything including DVD's right now (and for the whole past year)?

[Kalium]

Umm... not to everybody

Alot of people have a hard time understanding the quides. I don't think it has much to do with patience. Maybe how smart you are... but...

Then you ask questions, try to figure things out. You don't just give up, going "THIS JOB IS TOO HARD". You buckle down and work at it, or you ask for help. Giving up gets you a guaranteed ticket to nowhere. Illumination does't generally come out of the sky and enlighten you on the subject of what, exactly, an I-frame is (the nature of God may or may not be a different story, but that's not my field).

On the subject of cost: where I am, I can rent a DVD for $1.50 a day. Pocket change, literally. Or, I can hit my local library, and get both DVDs and CDs for free. That's right, free. Failing that, I can borrow from my friends (some of whom have extensive libraries). Then, I can use software that can either be purchased cheaply (my program of choice cost me $20, and it's all legal), or had legally for free (read).

Get a library card. They're great. Oh, and ask a few questions. They're great too, as long as you remember how to ask smart questions and be polite about it.

[aoi_neko]

Hmm, no s/he can't make a high quality video using D/L'ed footage. But if a beginner -- who comes right out and SAYS they simply don't understand the guides wants to play around and start getting familiar with the concepts they could do worse -- because if they start off with D/L'ed .avis it cust a whole lot of steps out of the process. Now, Scintilla, ripping the .vobs w/ decrypter, dgindexing them, deinterlacing, changing the frame rate, resizing and cutting obviously isn't a big deal to YOU. Nor to anyone else who's done it a few times. But I can see how a new editor can be a little put off by sentences like "Some anime have a digitally edited opening sequence which is pure interlaced and then use a regular Telecine pattern during the episode itself. X TV and Azumanga Daioh both use this particular method."

So, there's value, I think, in saying "Play with this. It'll look like hell, but it's the fastest way to get your feet wet."

Of course *ahem* this presumes you have downloaded footage from somewhere. Let us say that the first lesson is "Well, since you have it, play with with it, but thanks to a-m-v.org, now you know better than to induldge in such evil in the future."

Lesson two is maybe "Don't get attached to it while you're playing with it. Before too very long, you too will cringe at the visible subtitles and low-bitrate .mp3 sound."

In more general terms, Gilmorefan, are there *specific* things in the guides that confuse you, or is it really ALL gibberish to you at this point?

[khokokatt]

Umm... not to everybody

Alot of people have a hard time understanding the quides. I don't think it has much to do with patience. Maybe how smart you are... but...

Then you ask questions, try to figure things out. You don't just give up, going "THIS JOB IS TOO HARD". You buckle down and work at it, or you ask for help. Giving up gets you a guaranteed ticket to nowhere. Illumination does't generally come out of the sky and enlighten you on the subject of what, exactly, an I-frame is (the nature of God may or may not be a different story, but that's not my field).

Yes, you're right. I didn't make it clear in my past posts- so I'm sorry about that. But now I do understand the quides. But when I first read them I was EXTREMELY confused. So what I guess I meant was I understand the people who don't understand them.