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View Full Version : How Are You Viewing Monsterfest?

Rodney V. Smith
10-30-2009, 03:19 PM
It's going to be a low rent affair, but 'll have some company this year. We're gonna hook the laptop up to my brother's brand new 32" flatscreen, get some beer and wings and have Monsterfest 2009 here in Brooklyn.

I'm considering just hooking up the HVX and doing a video review for each film, more for my own notes I suppose, but the reviews are definitely something I'll be more on top of this time. Film discussion in real time... maybe on the second go around..


Anyway: Flatscreen, beer, wings, maybe pizza.
cinealma
10-30-2009, 04:19 PM
Sounds awesome! :beer:
Rodney V. Smith
10-30-2009, 04:20 PM
Sounds awesome! :beer:

So no viewing party planned?
cinealma
10-30-2009, 04:32 PM
So no viewing party planned?

My wife's birthday tomorrow. Taking my lady out for some WELL NEEDED time away from the kids. Maybe we can throw it up on the tv on Sunday.

Still deciding. :undecided
Brickhouse
10-30-2009, 04:42 PM
I may just hook up the computer to the good old 62" and get some people together.

Not a bad idea.
Dustin R. Rogan
10-30-2009, 04:46 PM
ATTN: WACO and Surrounding area users...

I would like to get a group of people together and watch at my house possibly (pending the telling of the roomies) however I don't know when I'm getting back into town...looks like I maybe all alone this time around :(

Rogan
ramsaur
10-30-2009, 04:49 PM
If I had a 42", 62" ... It'll be on my 13" with some HQ headphones that I wished I used for last fast, since it was hard for me to hear some of the audio. That's my little set up :)
Rodney V. Smith
10-30-2009, 04:54 PM
the new flatscreens have DVI inputs so it's much easier to watch on tv if you have access to one. Makes for a more enjoyable experience... also just found out that the new Windows media Player plays .mov and h264 files.. so i can make a playlist of the movies and never have to get up... unless it's for another beer...
ramsaur
10-30-2009, 05:15 PM
That's cool.. wish I had a newer Tv. But I don't. And I'm on a mac anyways. It'll be fun on the 13" macbook that I've watched the other fests on.
Michael Anthony Horrigan
10-30-2009, 05:20 PM
I could hook my laptop up to my flat screen, or better yet, my projector. I just find that the 50MB compression kills it a bit.
Maybe I'll try it again this Fest and see.

MAH
EditPhish
10-30-2009, 05:35 PM
Hooked one of my Mac-Minis up to a 50" TV. Some of the cast is coming over for Wings, Beer and other munchies from Applebees. We've been planning it for a while (I posted about it a few times).

We're also all going trick-or-treating, in costume of course, tomorrow afternoon prior to MonsterFest Movie-Watch!

ps. We take our movie-commenting very seriously... last time we participated (a long time ago) we kept a notebook going of notes on all the movies... planning on doing similar this time around (but probably on laptop). We'll probably comment EVERY movie, but maybe not the first night!

Where we'll watch:

http://www.dangrabbit.com/photography/albums/House/Playroom2_After.jpg

http://www.dangrabbit.com/photography/albums/House/Playroom4_After.jpg
Chris_Keaton
10-30-2009, 05:41 PM
I've got a 24" wide screen monitor. With the compression needed that might be too big.

Now let the downloads begin.
EditPhish
10-30-2009, 05:44 PM
I've got a 24" wide screen monitor. With the compression needed that might be too big.

Now let the downloads begin.

On an HDTV it's like a LARGE monitor. The movie should actually be BIGGER but great quality (we tested our own and it looked great on the TV). I have an Apple Cinema Display 24" monitor and it honestly looked just as good as on the 50" TV, but a whole lot bigger and through a nicer sound system :)

BestBuy sells the DVI->HD cables or adaptors. It was an easy setup. Got a cordless mouse and keyboard for $29.
AJ Brooks
10-30-2009, 06:03 PM
I got you all beat...

I'm converting all the entries so I can watch them all at once on forty four iPod Touch's.

And all that is cost me was $3.97 for two sided sticky tape! (...plus the cost of 44 iPods)
Sprocketboy
10-30-2009, 06:05 PM
Nice setup EditPhish. I'm thinking of getting one of those Mac minis for a computer-based media center in the living room. Are you using an external hard drive or are you feeding off of a NAS connected to your network?
Mood Niatrec
10-30-2009, 06:33 PM
I got you all beat...

I'm converting all the entries so I can watch them all at once on forty four iPod Touch's.

And all that is cost me was $3.97 for two sided sticky tape! (...plus the cost of 44 iPods)

Hahahaha.. We lose.

Can't wait for the viewing party, EditPhish! WINGS AND BEER!!! AND WINGS!!
ramsaur
10-30-2009, 07:11 PM
As of now I'm still sticking with my 13" MacBook with HQ Headphone. But after those who uploaded pictures I saw sparked me an Idea I'm going try out.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/IMG_1282.jpg
Luis_
10-30-2009, 07:35 PM
Rodney, I was hoping you were setting up a spot for everyone near by who wanted to come. I think we should lock down a spot in New York or North Jersey for the next one and have it all ready before hand.
Rodney V. Smith
10-30-2009, 07:46 PM
Rodney, I was hoping you were setting up a spot for everyone near by who wanted to come. I think we should lock down a spot in New York or North Jersey for the next one and have it all ready before hand.

That's a good idea. I hadn't planned to be here so long so I hadn't even thought about setting anything up for New York or Jersey. We should definitely start setting up some kind of viewing for the next fest though...
Luis_
10-30-2009, 07:54 PM
That's a good idea. I hadn't planned to be here so long so I hadn't even thought about setting anything up for New York or Jersey. We should definitely start setting up some kind of viewing for the next fest though...

is on!
Marlon Ladd
10-30-2009, 08:35 PM
DVI-hd cable - that's what I need. I was thinking the same thing about how the 50 mb compression just kills trying to put it on a tv. I guess I'll have to check it out and see.
TMerry
10-30-2009, 08:42 PM
Okay I spent the day being depressed cuase I didn't finish in time but now it's out of my system and I'm totally excited to see the other entries.

1. Do you know what time do they post the films so I can start downloading?

2. I just hooked my old G5 tower to my 42 inch plasma in the living room,
hooked up the sound system and tested it out on some QuestFest entries.
Im using the monitor to SVideo converter and it looks pretty damn good.

Having some friends/family over, popping a load of popcorn and going to enjoy
a great fest from the best seat in the house.

Joneses, Flower, Devils Toy, Prey, Mask, 1%, Witches Bottle, Thirst, El CuCuy, Zaza, Marshall, Sconce etc etc. etc. etc

IT"s ON BABY!!!
AmyO
10-30-2009, 09:58 PM
Aw, I'm depressed that you didn't finish in time, too. Are you going to post it later?

I'm probably going to watch most on my laptop, to be honest. I've got a 47" LCD attached to my editing system in my office, but I won't be out there this weekend. I might do a second round of my favorites on the big screen before I submit my votes, thought.
TMerry
10-30-2009, 11:59 PM
Hi Amy, yes I'm still going to post it when it's done. The problem is, now, I have the time to be a perfectionist again :-)

I'm not sure where I'm going to post it, but i'll post it somewhere Tee Hee,
then let Yall know ;-)
-Tommy

Aw, I'm depressed that you didn't finish in time, too. Are you going to post it later?

I'm probably going to watch most on my laptop, to be honest. I've got a 47" LCD attached to my editing system in my office, but I won't be out there this weekend. I might do a second round of my favorites on the big screen before I submit my votes, thought.
Dustin R. Rogan
10-31-2009, 12:03 AM
Joneses, Flower, Devils Toy, Prey, Mask, 1%, Witches Bottle, Thirst, El CuCuy, Zaza, Marshall, Sconce etc etc. etc. etc

IT"s ON BABY!!!


*cough*

Rogan
Rodney V. Smith
10-31-2009, 12:32 AM
*cough*

Rogan

Oh don't be a baby Rogan: you've been quiet this time around. If no one is excited to see Polly it's your fault. You have one day left to get out and promote the hell out of it though, so GO!

Get it all over Facebook, get your twiiter set to go, and whatever else you have at your disposal. GO!
Dustin R. Rogan
10-31-2009, 12:34 AM
already done son...already done

Rogan
Tuwin
10-31-2009, 02:55 AM
I'm going to be sitting in the comfort of my own office, dressed up as King Diamond for Halloween, watching all the films by my self with a big bowl pudding and a sprite.

This is going to be great!
EditPhish
10-31-2009, 07:13 AM
Nice setup EditPhish. I'm thinking of getting one of those Mac minis for a computer-based media center in the living room. Are you using an external hard drive or are you feeding off of a NAS connected to your network?

Neither... this was an impromptu setup, so just the internal drive on the Mini. We had an "extra" mac mini laying around (my daughter's old one) and decided to try it out but it required a bit of reformatting and such. For viewing tonight we'll just be downloading the movies to the internal hard drive and watching them in quicktime.

However, for our day-to-day media, we use two Apple TVs and they are connected to an itunes library on a network drive. I had considered downloading and converting all the fest entries, but that is where the compression kills them. It's actually better, at least by my quick testing, to watch them via a computer connected to the TV and using it like a big monitor. They won't be full-screen, but they'll be big. On a 50" TV the quicktime window ends up about the size of a 32" TV.


Tommy... I'm so disappointed you didn't get your movie in in time!!! I was really looking forward to it.
Shaun Patrick
10-31-2009, 07:27 AM
I'll probably just watch on a computer but hooking up the laptop to my TV sounds great too. Though, I cringe at the thought of my film being blown up full screen on a 50" television--compression/artifacting would be a killer.
EditPhish
10-31-2009, 07:29 AM
I'll probably just watch on a computer but hooking up the laptop to my TV sounds great too. Though, I cringe at the thought of my film being blown up full screen on a 50" television--compression/artifacting would be a killer.

Believe me Shaun... I thought the same thing, but with the testing we did, they actually look really good (but not full-screen).
ZazaCast
10-31-2009, 07:45 AM
Oh don't be a baby Rogan: you've been quiet this time around. If no one is excited to see Polly it's your fault. You have one day left to get out and promote the hell out of it though, so GO!

Get it all over Facebook, get your twiiter set to go, and whatever else you have at your disposal. GO!

Rogan has a film in this fest? :evil:
TMerry
10-31-2009, 08:06 AM
*cough*

Rogan

Here's a Ricola. :thumbsup:

Your on my list Rogan, I would get tendonitis before typing all of
my first plays tonight :grin:
TMerry
10-31-2009, 08:10 AM
.....I'm going to be sitting in the comfort of my own office, dressed up as King Diamond ...

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:
ZazaCast
10-31-2009, 08:17 AM
I'm thinking of running out and getting one of those WD Media players and portable drive...then hooking that up to the 50" Plasma. I hear those things are great to have & they're only like $98.00 at Sam's.
greeches
10-31-2009, 08:29 AM
Burn to DVD-R and throw in the PS3, woo hoo!
Shaun Patrick
10-31-2009, 08:51 AM
Believe me Shaun... I thought the same thing, but with the testing we did, they actually look really good (but not full-screen).

That's good to know. I will try with a laptop and my 32" TV.
Charli
10-31-2009, 09:52 AM
I'm a grab my blankie, my teddy bear, have pizza in hand and watch... when it gets scary I'll just jump under the covers...
Rodney V. Smith
10-31-2009, 11:47 AM
I'm thinking of running out and getting one of those WD Media players and portable drive...then hooking that up to the 50" Plasma. I hear those things are great to have & they're only like $98.00 at Sam's.

Those WD Media Players are supposed to be pretty badass. Plays directly from the file to the tv. Can't quite beat that, AND a great price. Not sure if it takes MOV files though... Ahh,well Google answers that question:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=572

Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264),
MTS, TP, TS


Early on I considered burning to DVD but that's at least an hour of rendering and burning. I like the option of downloading and then just viewing immediately.
Mood Niatrec
10-31-2009, 01:10 PM
Burn to DVD-R and throw in the PS3, woo hoo!

You might be able to just dump the movie file to a flash drive and watch it like that on the PS3
Defcon
10-31-2009, 01:11 PM
video reviews, i love it but that's gonna be a lot work! just don't trash mine too hard.
Defcon
10-31-2009, 01:12 PM
download ps3 media server, best thingy ever, no need to dump to flash drive, it just streams off your laptop.
Rodney V. Smith
10-31-2009, 01:24 PM
video reviews, i love it but that's gonna be a lot work! just don't trash mine too hard.

No trashing. Reviews are meant to be be fair and honest. There is a link somewhere about review etiquette that I think needs to be reposted and stickied in every DVXFest. lemme see if I can find it...
ZazaCast
10-31-2009, 01:26 PM
Those WD Media Players are supposed to be pretty badass. Plays directly from the file to the tv. Can't quite beat that, AND a great price. Not sure if it takes MOV files though... Ahh,well Google answers that question:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=572


Early on I considered burning to DVD but that's at least an hour of rendering and burning. I like the option of downloading and then just viewing immediately.

Just back from Sam's...it was only $89.00! Got to get this hooked-up so I'm ready for the ViewFest!!!:happy:
Mood Niatrec
10-31-2009, 01:26 PM
So close! Can't wait for these yummy wings.
Rodney V. Smith
10-31-2009, 01:30 PM
Found the link. I follow these rules very closely during any type of review.

Suggestions on Giving and Receiving Criticism
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=154749
Rodney V. Smith
10-31-2009, 03:18 PM
WINGS!!!! I was about to order wings. I got the tequila, vodka and the beer and getting ready to order food... but now my brother has pointed out something very important.

I'm in New York City. On Halloween. What the hell am I doing staying in on Halloween Night?

Bar Crawl!

I'll have to catch up with the films tomorrow. Just as long as I can start the download tonight.
EditPhish
10-31-2009, 03:23 PM
Cool people stay in on halloween and watch MonsterFest movies ;)

We were hoping the movies would be up by now... we already started our wings... we've got lots of other munchies for the rest of the night though...
Defcon
10-31-2009, 03:26 PM
i am now ordering wings tonight. thanks rodney. and man if i was in manhattan i would be partying it up too.
Tom Marshall
10-31-2009, 03:28 PM
I'm going to hook my laptop up to my Samsung plasma, add all of the entries to the playlist, and then hit play. Then I'll get drunk... So if you get a review where I can't quite remember what happened, you'll know why... :beer:
Zak Forsman
10-31-2009, 04:00 PM
download ps3 media server, best thingy ever, no need to dump to flash drive, it just streams off your laptop.

thanks for this! never heard of this until now.
dust'n the callipygous
11-01-2009, 11:03 AM
i was going to watch them on my new panasonic plasma, but my dvi->hdmi cable hasn't come in yet. i had to watch them all on my laptop.
EditPhish
11-01-2009, 11:14 AM
Just wanted to report back and say we were up until about 4am watching all the films... We enjoyed watching them and it was GREAT on the big-screen TV. You'll ALL be happy to know that all the films looked great on the Computer->TV platform. We didn't once feel like we needed to move to a computer to get a better representation of a film. The great ones looked OUTSTANDING, but even the not-so-great ones looks good!

It was a really enjoyable way to watch the fest films, for sure!
Om Nom Nom
11-01-2009, 02:38 PM
I'm just REALLY glad that clocks turned back last night, LOL. It was definitely a lot of fun to watch all the films in a big group :) And there was some that I was VERY impressed with! Looking forward to the next fest, definitely!
Kellar42
11-01-2009, 10:03 PM
I can't wait to see some of this in HD...that comes after the fest, right?
Edgen
11-01-2009, 10:07 PM
wew hew! Finished watching them all. Man. My eyes hurt. In all aspects. Tylenol is undoubtedly in my near future before bed.

Just wanted to say congrats to all the entries.
Sprocketboy
11-02-2009, 10:03 AM
I started watching a few of the Monsterfest entries through a device called "WD TV Live" to a 32" HD monitor, and the quality is horrible. The device is excellent. I watch things off it all the time. Its the compression in these files. They do not translate well to an LCD HD screen. If anyone did a lot of work on color grading their little gem... it will be all lost if anyone watches it in the fashion described above.

I'm watching them on my computer for the time being.
Luis_
11-02-2009, 10:56 PM
Hooked one of my Mac-Minis up to a 50" TV.

How are you connecting to the HDTV?
I downloaded all the movies to a spare mac-mini my self and I want to hook it up to my 62".
Luis_
11-02-2009, 10:59 PM
wew hew! Finished watching them all. Man. My eyes hurt. In all aspects. Tylenol is undoubtedly in my near future before bed.

Just wanted to say congrats to all the entries.

WOW!

I have only had time to watch 2 so far! :cry:
Luis_
11-02-2009, 11:11 PM
Just back from Sam's...it was only $89.00! Got to get this hooked-up so I'm ready for the ViewFest!!!:happy:

That thing looks nice!
I rather get that than an interface to hook up my mac-mini to the HDTV.
Did you get that WD TV hooked up yet?
EditPhish
11-03-2009, 05:25 AM
How are you connecting to the HDTV?
I downloaded all the movies to a spare mac-mini my self and I want to hook it up to my 62".

BesyBuy sells a cable... DVI-D on one end, HDMI connector on the other end. Audio required a mini-headphone jack to RCA connector (radio shack - but we had that). Was as simple as that :)
Luis_
11-03-2009, 05:42 AM
BesyBuy sells a cable... DVI-D on one end, HDMI connector on the other end. Audio required a mini-headphone jack to RCA connector (radio shack - but we had that). Was as simple as that :)

kewl!, I have a best buy about 2 minutes away, thanks!
EditPhish
11-03-2009, 06:01 AM
kewl!, I have a best buy about 2 minutes away, thanks!

Forgot to say, it was in the computer department, NOT the audio/video department... at least in the store by us... so check both areas!
Luis_
11-06-2009, 05:06 AM
Forgot to say, it was in the computer department, NOT the audio/video department... at least in the store by us... so check both areas!

yes it was in the computer section but they wanted $50 for the cheap one and $80 for the better one.
I got one online for a whapping total of $13.89 and that's including the 5.99 shipping! Now I just have to wait 2 or 3 days before I can watch all the movies which I don't mind.
Thanks for your help!
:dankk2:
Marlon Ladd
11-06-2009, 06:58 AM
yes it was in the computer section but they wanted $50 for the cheap one and $80 for the better one.
I got one online for a whapping total of $13.89 and that's including the 5.99 shipping! Now I just have to wait 2 or 3 days before I can watch all the movies which I don't mind.
Thanks for your help!
:dankk2:
Stupid "Best Buy!"
Sprocketboy
11-06-2009, 07:46 AM
Smart "NewEgg!"
ZazaCast
11-06-2009, 08:09 AM
Sweet "MonoPrice!!"

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2
Luis_
11-06-2009, 08:14 PM
smart "newegg!"

lmao!!!
Luis_
11-06-2009, 08:16 PM
Sweet "MonoPrice!!"

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2

OMG!!!:2vrolijk_08:
Gord.T
11-09-2009, 11:13 AM
I watched them on my computer about a handfull at a time over about 5 days.

In the past I would burn 1/2 to DVD and watch them back to back on the T.V. The problem I found there was they would sort of bleed into each other. I would basically burn out in the process and confuse different shorts with each other.

So this time, having spread out the viewing time, it gave me more time to spend with each video. I watched some several times for different reasons.

This approach, after a few years of trying different viewing methods , seems to have worked the best for me. Quite enjoyable and relaxing this time around. I didn't feel rushed, didn't burn out and had more time to spend thinking about certain aspects of each entry.

After having done that, it might be fun to go back and watch them back to back now, only because I've already spent time with them. I could watch them better as entertainment now I think and not have to worry about this or that.
:beer:
Luis_
11-09-2009, 03:33 PM
I watched them on my computer about a handfull at a time over about 5 days.



Very cool... that's the way to do it. I know what you mean about going back and just watching them again in relax mode. But you know what, it's impossible, your still going to catch a few more things here and there :grin::beer:

Anyway, so I looked in the mailbox but no HDMI cable there today. :(
I should have it by tomorrow and if the UPS guy get's there early I should have a little bit of time tomorrow to watch a few and to down some...... :beer: soda:huh:?