Chyrons are always a hot topic.... people complain about placement, length, ringtones, watermarks, you name it!

Am I the only one that's noticed how HUGE the promo only chyrons are these days???? Its absurd, they literally take up half the screen!

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well, font size seems a little bigger but it's also because that particular video/song has a shitload of other artists which have to be listed

You do know that the sample you gave has like 8 artis names on it of coures it's going to be big. I think the biggest problem with promo only is that anoying lttle are logo that comes out through out the whole video

Oh good, another Promo Only logo thread.

well... the khaled track was an obvious example.... here is another one where there is just too much information, with the larger font. It's quite obtrusive

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lol sorry Justin

To clarify.... I didn't start this to bitch and complain about the chyrons (or the watermarks) - it has been established these are a necessary evil for now.

I just noticed they got bigger - way bigger, and everyone seems to concentrate on the small translucent logo when it comes to promo only, as opposed to the MASSIVE text that covers half the video up! More of an observation thread.....

lol No issues. When there is true availability of any video from any company on-demand, issues like this may be able to be addressed directly to those companies.

But since we really are limited on getting videos from a few companies...you kinda have to play by their rules. Like it or not. :( And Promo Only has made some changes in regards to this, but I am not hopeful that this will be one of them.

Its actually the spacing... if you look at the distance between the lines.
the font has only increased a little.

but the spacing between the letters, as well as the lines, it also looks like they
stoped using the bottom left corner justification and moved it to the middle some.

certain sucks...
Its bad enough that... well.
how many times can we, the consumers request improvements that fall on deaf ears.

at leat Xtenda Nixxed the ringtones, and upped their quality.

Did they finally take those horrible 1-800 numbers off their videos?

I thought the ring tone message only pertained to certain videos - those they are serviced from one of the record companies in particular. The rest of the vids are ring tone message free. Basically what I'm saying is ..I think they still have the ring tone message but U will only see it on certain vids. I may be wrong on this

I dont know where on here he wrote it... but he said that they were going away.

I know it was that only certain labels for a while (the majority)

that's a huge increase in size, pretty much double the font size.
i just edit them out.

promo only can suck a dick.

I wish I could but it's too much time.... I already make intro, dirty, and acapella edits with simple quicktime remuxes - and that's all the time I can commit! When I do a full out edit, I'll try to get rid of it, but often the chyron is placed at the beginning of the first verse, where I would be bringing it back, where it's important to have the right part of the video....

That's why they do it...so you can't edit it out without ruining the video.

Here's the deal with the ringtones. Only Universal, Warner and VP have ringtones. Sony and EMI have a website instead. We asked Universal and Warner to look into how many are sold. We told them that there would be more djs buying the videos if we didn't have them, so they would make more money that way. In case you didn't know and as mentioned in other threads, we do pay royalites to the labels and they do take a percentage of our gross sales. We report to them monthly. We've asked them to look into the ringtone sales.

We are in talks with both of them to get rid of the ringtones, should know by the end of this week. If and when Universal drops them, Warner will follow suit. Then, it's gonna be a long process of re-encoding the videos and allowing the users to download it, but we're gonna do it. Everything moving forward with be without ringtones and we'll be redoing the older back catalogue. We've also shortened the chyron from 15 seconds to 10.

cool.. does that mean, ur gonna re-do all the videos? cuz that is horrible.

Yes we would be redoing all of them for Universal and Warner...either alphabetically or newest to oldest....20-30 per day, working backwards, should be done in 2-3 months.

We will let you know when

one suggestion regarding your Chryons for XtendaMix.

Use only one... at the beginning of the song. Not two...

I will bring that up in my next conversations with the labels. If you're like most DJs though, you never get to the end of the song...but I'll ask.

if its the hot song at that time.. i always let it play out, im not gonna piss off the girls that come n see me just cuz i wanna mr badass dj and play twenty songs in ten minutes :)

Not sure if you guys have had a chance to look at the site recently, we have the previews now, so you can see what the Sony chyrons look like. Have a look...there's some great new content we just added

sounds good, with some of the house edits, u need a 64 count intro.. some of the intros can be a little hard at times, like i said, if u need some edits, i will be glad to help.

and any idea when robin thick-daddys home vid is comin out ?

But you're still Canada only? Or opening to U.S. subscribers now?

and timbaland-carry out

its serato man... LOOP THAT SHIT UP 32X2!

Timbaland's Carry out I don't know if there's a video yet. There is one for Timbaland and Katy Perry, should be getting it this week. We're still only Canada for now.
We will ask Universal about the Robin Thick video tomorrow.

Look for the video from Lady Gaga & Beyonce - Telephone coming Feb 23rd.

hahaha no. im lazy

Most of our house edits are at least 64 in...or more

that's the problem with "most" dj's...

Believe me... I have heard it from customers...

Honestly I get sick of hearing 30second track mix DJ's... forking annoying. sounds like someone switching radio stations constantly... no flow!

exactly, i very rarely have seen/heard djs do the quick mix perfectly...

i know in the last 5 years i have been speeding up my mixes, never holding out till the end, but i think thats because peoples attentions spans are not the same...

I completely program off of the vibe from the crowd... other DJ's especially here in Las Vegas... are notorious for it. Their faces are stuck on their laptop screens and never working the room. The ones that sound decent with quickmixing sound like they are doing a demo... like an exhibition.. big difference from really working a dancefloor.

thats very true. i seen the same. i know with certain songs that r older, i get in and quickly out. just to get a spike out of the crowd, but i know if i stay in.. the warm welcome.. that it got, will wear out quick!

i would love to play vegas! for erie there have been some bigger clubs, not the flashiest of places... but some of these places hold 1400 people, so thats not too bad for a small market.

I am against quick mixing a whole night as people do want to hear their favorite songs but a little bit here and there does add some energy to the night. What really bores me is DJs that play songs out from beginning to end. That style was acceptible back in the day but I don't think it translates as well nowadays.

I think with video you can get away with it a little more than with audio, since there's something to watch and videos are basically a little story within itself, but as we all know, it's audio first that rules, so quick mixes (if done right) should keep the energy level up

I hope that you either use a professional encoder OR hire someone who understands how to encode. No offense meant, but your quality control is absolutely horrible.

We have since switched to a new encoder (Squeeze) and are using different settings and have upped the quality since we started. However Justin, if you are not happy with it, don't use the service.

Wow..nice customer service and way to take (an acknowledged) criticism about your previous encoding process.

I am sure your company will go far.

No it's not a matter of taking criticism. We do enjoy the constructive feedback, but from yourself, and based on other posts, you are always trashing, not criticizing. You do not contribute positively at all. Why not provide a positive outlook on things for once, instead of negative. So again, I say, if you do not enjoy the service, or have nothing positive to say or to help make it better, than don't use the service.

Wow...I see that you have very selective reading skills. That's ok has a personal fault but when you have them as a company...what an idiot move.

You product has been substandard for years and I have seen nothing that is making it batter. I do not use your service...nor will I. And I will not recommend your service either based on your responses. I am positive that other services offer a much better product. See I CAN be positive.

As to your comment about "always trashing" please show me some examples. I happen to think that there is a huge difference between telling and explaining to people how things "really are" vs allowing misperception about video's, video editing, and yes, even video services clutter the forum with mis-information.

One other additional fact for you. I have been spinning video in nightclubs for the last 7 years. My criticism of your product was based on that knowledge as well as actually seeing how horrible your product looked as it was used in a nightclub. From the poor encoding techniques to the 1-800 ringtones numbers labeled all over the videos, as well as hearing the feedback and concerned given to me from more than one club owner.

And I will be happy to continue to share that opinion at the upcoming Nightclub and Bar convention during a panel discussion as well as the many other video related discussions that I will be having with nightclub owners. Perception is everything and I am sorry to say that the perception of your company's products are just not up to par with other companies.

Hopefully that was constructive enough for you.

Justin, Xtendamix is about to hit their "one" year aniversary....
and I think like any company the first year is spent learning on the go.

I think the general consensus for xtenda mix has always been about the ringtones, the length of the chryons, and the overall video quality.
being with them since the day they kicked off I feel like i can honestly offer a founded and reliable review on their product, I am also slightly Biased, so of course take it with a grain of salt.
but seeing how this thread is about PROMO ONLY I wont go too far off the beaten path...

The 3 main things people complained about they have remedied.
I can already see the quality difference in newer videos.
(you have to remember when they bust out an obscure video from 1978 you can only polish it so much). They also have preivews, and everything is Serato tagged now.

Im not going to try to "Sell" the product... but they (mark) has been good about coming here and interacting with the video community and you have to at least
understand a little bit of his frustration when we constantly demand perfection
and they are taking steps to get there, yet still people are going to say the product
sucks.. even if they dont use it...
Its like the VDJ users who bash serato based only on what they saw online, or messed with the VSL Trial... its unfounded and based on a serving size example
from 6 months ago.

If theres anyone opinion on here I value, its yours Justin. but I must respectfully disagree with you given the CURRENT state of Xtendamix''s product.
8 months ago... Thats a different story... i was constantly firing off emails, going back
and forth with them about the Chryons, the cropping, the quality....
and it looks like they have listened

Very fair points Joshua. Let me talk with you about one or two points.

As I do not use the product let me say that my experience with them has been actually seeing the product in clubs. As recently as a few weeks ago I saw their product being used and did not notice any significant changes to it with a song that was 2-3 months old. So I am not sure when the crossover happened, maybe after that point. In this case it may be a matter of perception, but as they say, perception is reality.

DJ's will always complain about things that they don't like and at the end of the day there is a certain set of rules that providers MUST follow, as they do not own the content, they are just distributors. Those things to not bother me so much, especially when compared to other, more important issues, like quality, ect.

Companies always get better when they value input from their customers and potential customers...and it seems like, based on what you just said, they have been listening and working towards solving their problems. That is good for the industry and good for the company itself.

That being said, I am not sure that Xtendamix still has all of their issues worked out. And this is based on their own words in this thread. 2 major companies are still not dropping ringtones and having dealt with Universal myself for years I understand how long things like this take. Would I avoid Xtendamix JUST BECAUSE of the ringtones...absolutely yes. It portrays an image inside the nightclub that a savvy owner would not want. Once again, my opinion, but my opinion based on fact as well. I look forward to seeing some of their new offerings as they grow and get past what are obviously extensive growing pains.

However I also wonder if they care enough about their customers to offer all legal subscribers of their service the availability to replace their older, poorly encoded and ringtone labeled videos with the higher quality, 1-800 phone numbers removed videos.

Yes...you are now allowed 2 downloads per file and once the older files are re-encoded with the new chyron and without the ringtones, you will be able to redownload them all once again. You will be able to use the preview as well to see which ones have and do not have the ringtones. We will be letting our subscribers know when they are re-encoded and ready. I agree with the ringtones, I think it looks cheesy and are working to move away from it...but as you mentioned, dealing with the major companies is a slow process.

Very commendable! That is something positive I can say about your company.

Ive had more of a "WTF IS THAT" reaction from the OLDER CC or yourremix right-justified logo than I ever did with the ringtones... but yeah I hated them, just like everyone else.
you know, the big sweeping colorbar that they used to use... or that huge CC stamp.
but we all know the ringtone thing has been beaten to death, and lets keep our fingers crossed that the other companies will follow suit.
but then of course in walks another factor. content.
fact is, they have videos i see NO WHERE else, and when new videos come out they
are usually one of the first to have it, and usually an extended version.

so, of course that puts us in a actionable position.
do we suck it up and play the video (lets go back 6 months) and deal with the ringtone, and yet make the crowd very happy, or not play it for a few weeks.
going forward, I think that (I hope that) that will no longer be the quandry we
find ourselves in[sans the ringtone and boost in quality].

funny story.
I have a close friend who's owner LOVES the ringtones.
he has seen people pull out their phones and what not..
or actually peer at the screen to see exactly what that line says.
of course...I call him a doosh at every pass for such a thought, but still.

diff'rent strokes.

now if they will just perfect the cropping ;-)
(black bars on the right & left drive me nuts)

That can be solved in several ways, the easiest being during the initial encoding process. And that depends on a) what format they are receiving their content in, and b) what equipment they are using for ingesting their content.

All the new videos have been encoded full screen, no more black bars around the outsides...except if it's widescreen. And when the older videos are re-encoded, they will all be full screen as well. We learn as we go and yes some of the content that came out 8 months ago we're ashamed to have our stamp on. But that should all be fixed very soon and will be available for re-download

What frame sizes are you guys using now?

Widescreen (16:9) should NOT have the same as full screen (4:3) with black bars added to look like widescreen... that isn't proper widescreen videos.

fullscreen resolutions = 640x480 (square pixel aspect ratio)
widescreen resolutions - 640x360 (square pixel aspect ratio)

720 x 480, same as tv's and dvd.

That's a mistake.

Just as the "constructive criticism" you asked for.

People have told you about proper cropping/resolutions/aspect ratios.

There is plenty of resources on this forum for that.

See, that's not good at all. And in fact, even for full screen material, you should be doing 640x480 square pixel, as DJ-Phat-AL mentioned.

+1.

No problem, we will change our screen resolutions moving forward

Just in case you don't know, though, you can't just resize. You need to crop first so you're working with actual 1.78:1 aspect ratio material, and then output as 640x360 (or 854x480, whichever is appropriate).

We are not encoding at 640x360, we are doing 640x480. A lot of the older videos are full screen so to crop them to widescreen would look odd

See, this is your problem. You can NOT apply a "one-size-fits-all" technique to your encodes. Of course, for full screen videos, you wouldn't want to crop anything, and you would want to output 640x480. That's obvious.

I'm talking about videos that ARE widescreen. Crop, and then encode at 640x360. If you're trying to be a service that people will take seriously, you need to be willing to learn how to properly encode, which means moving away from some generic batch encoder.

Would you rather us encode 2 different types, Full screen and Wide screen? We can offer that, not a problem. No one ever asked. This is why criticism is a good thing.

That would be inefficient. It's pretty simple, if the video is fullscreen, then encode fullscreen. If the video is widescreen, crop then encode widescreen.

No problem, we will apply that to future videos.

Awesome. I look forward to it.

*drooling*

can't wait to get to the first batch of these videos

@Xtendamix - nice job getting the Carl Carlton video!!!!!

Message sent privately to you Xtendamix

BRO-MANCE!

haha

Nah, just didn't think my message needed to be aired in public.

thats a first.

lmao

Xtendamix has improved their quality in the last couple of weeks. Still not smashvidz quality but definitely way way better than it used to be in the past.

We will now be offering the widescreen videos as well as the 640x480 resolution as well, so all that should help. We are working on getting rid of the ringtones. Let's keep our fingers crossed

hey xtendamix can u please the bpm.. i mean u put if its a single and lable and genre, but i would liek to see BPM! thnx

Sure we will add a column for bpm's.

after seeing how receptive Xtendamix is to everything we have asked on this thread, i might have to join the service.

There's no reason not to be. We are trying to make everything easier and better for everyone. Let us know what you are looking for and we will try out best to accommodate it.
We are here for the DJs, not for anyone else

yea when u gettin the bep video of imma be

and can u make a better video for sandstorm.. with liek the cast of jersey shore fist pumping to it ?

Ya, there ain't much you can do with Sandstorm. Not sure on the BEP video, I do know Lady Gaga and Beyonce - Telephone is scheduled for release Feb 23rd.

Half the time, Itunes has them out before the labels.

Timbaland and Katy Perry should be ready early week

i dont play sandstorm too much anymore.. but it would be funny to have a bunch of douchebags fist pumping to it :)

I'm sure you could make your own, but I don't think we would get clearance to put it out

Timbaland and Katy Perry should be ready early week : ive had this one done for 2 weeks.

I know, it was at Universal, but their DVD recorder is broken, so have to get it from beta. It's actually been out for a month, but haven't been able to get it till now. Long story

that's what i'm talking about :)