Downloadable clips, DVD or VHS?

[The Last Laugh]

Which one is your preferred format for tickling videos: downloadable clips, DVD or VHS? I mean commercial products that you actually purchase, so free preview clips don't count.

It's no secret that downloadable clips are all the rage these days, and as some of you may know, I've started releasing clip versions of my own videos. But for now I'm still selling DVDs and videotapes. I'm kinda curious to know how much of a demand there is for the various formats. Obviously, I know my own sale figures, but some extra feedback might be interesting anyway, including comments about why people prefer one format over the others.

Personally, putting aside the extra work they represent compared to clips, I quite like DVDs (actually DVD-Rs). The level of quality is high and you can play them on a TV or in full-screen mode on a computer. I also like getting a tangible product when I buy something. I know several people feel the same way as I do. However, I expect my DVD sales will go down now that I'm selling clips. Maybe not enough to stop selling them, assuming they continue to sell enough copies, but I can understand why so many producers have dropped physical videos altogether.

As for VHS, it's a format I'm thinking of dropping in the not-so-distant future. Videotapes already represented a fairly low percentage of my sales to begin with. Now that I have clips I expect I'll sell very few copies from now on. In addition, they actually cost me more to produce than DVDs, and they're also most expensive to ship. I have a few loyal regular customers who prefer videotapes, which makes me hesitate dropping that format right now. And to be fair, the quality of my videotapes is rather high (within the limits of the orginal footage), mainly due to my use of a special hybrid MiniDV-VHS machine for making copies. But if future sales turn out to be too low, I may very well remove them from my list of products. Still, I'd very much like to hear about people who prefer the VHS format when they buy videos.

 

[MistressValerie1]

I have a slow connection, so downloads are not an option. Until I get a DVD player, VHS is the only format I can use.

 

[nessonite1]

I hope you never stop selling tangible product (though since I dont have the $$ to be an actual customer I shouldn't say anything). There are a lot of poeple who don't have the connection to support large downloads and many people who don't like trusting something they paid a lot of money for to a hard drive which could crash at any moment.
If I had the $$ to have an opinion that mattered I'd say I would buy DVDs first, VHS second, and downloadables third. Watching stuff on a big tv is a lot nicer than a small computer moniter and...lets be honest with what your customers may be doing while veiwing...there's the comfort factor.
😛

 

[nstklr]

Hi all,

My real preference would be DVD's, but I put downloadable. I'm on a dial up connectionm, but have access to high speed.

My reason for choosing downloads over the DVD's is that on the only 2 occassions that I ve ordered tickling material by mail (books), our glorious Canada Customs folks confiscated the items because it showed females in bondage. So I lost the items. They give you 30 days to appeal the seizing.

So, at least downloading would ensure me getting my order.

 

[The Last Laugh]

My plans for the VHS format

I have a slow connection, so downloads are not an option. Until I get a DVD player, VHS is the only format I can use.

Ah. I suppose in some cases it not so much a question of preference than of technical obligation.

I don’t intend to drop VHS altogether, at least not for now. However, I do intend to make some changes to the way I offer and distribute them, as I explain later in this post.

I hope you never stop selling tangible product (though since I dont have the $$ to be an actual customer I shouldn't say anything). There are a lot of poeple who don't have the connection to support large downloads and many people who don't like trusting something they paid a lot of money for to a hard drive which could crash at any moment.

If I had the $$ to have an opinion that mattered I'd say I would buy DVDs first, VHS second, and downloadables third. Watching stuff on a big tv is a lot nicer than a small computer moniter and...lets be honest with what your customers may be doing while veiwing...there's the comfort factor.

Yeah, I realize that clips, as convenient as they are, are not ideal for everyone. Several people prefer tangible products, including some of my most regular, loyal customers, which is why I intend to continue selling DVDs, despite the extra work they represent.

As for VHS, well, for now I intend to start offering them as well, but I’m going to change a few things soon. For a while there I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with VHS. On the one hand, it’s a dying medium. Eventually it will go the way of the vinyl record and the music tape. As far as my videos are concerned, videotapes haven’t represented that large a percentage of my sales ever since I started selling DVDs, and the demand is likely to drop even more now that I have clips. Not to mention that videotapes are actually more expensive for me to produce, as well as more expensive to ship. Overall, VHS isn’t very advantageous for me. So it’s tempting to just give up that medium.

On the other hand, I know there are still a few people that can only use videotapes, and some others actually prefer them for one reason or another. Among the regular customers who buy most of my releases there are at least two who buy videotapes. I’d hate to lose or disappoint these customers. Also, from a technical point of view, producing VHS copies doesn’t really represent more work for me. I need to create master MiniDV digital tapes for each title anyway, and I make VHS copies directly from them.

What I’m thinking of doing is the following: I’ll remove videotapes from my *official* selection of products on my main website and my Videos4Sale.com stores. However, they’ll remain available to people who specifically request that format. Not too sure how most people will be made aware of this option, but I’ll think about it. In any case, since I’ll be removing videotapes from my Videos4Sale.com stores, it won’t be possible to order them online anymore. Customers will have to order them by mail (DVDs will still be available online, though). An inconvenience, I know. But it will make those rare VHS sales somewhat more advantageous for me, since it means I won’t lose the percentage Videos4Sale.com takes each time I make a sale (which I don’t mind too much for DVD sales, but like I said, videotapes cost me more). It will also allow me to simplify a few things on my main website and stores. I think it’s a fair compromise.

So anyway, I think I’ll remove most references to my videotapes from my site and stores very soon, around September 1st. However, people who prefer or need VHS can still order videos in that format by mail. They'll simply need to let me know that's what they want. I hope this will turn out to be an acceptable compromise.

By the way, it doesn't matter if you're not an actual customer. Your input is still valuable, and I appreciate your support.

My real preference would be DVD's, but I put downloadable. I'm on a dial up connectionm, but have access to high speed.

My reason for choosing downloads over the DVD's is that on the only 2 occassions that I ve ordered tickling material by mail (books), our glorious Canada Customs folks confiscated the items because it showed females in bondage. So I lost the items. They give you 30 days to appeal the seizing.

That’s kind of surprising. I would have thought the Canadian customs would be less strict about this sort of thing than the American customs. And yet I don’t personally recall any instance of problems with the latter when it comes to all the packages I’ve sent to American customers. You say it happened to you twice? I wonder if it’s a fluke or if the Canadian customs really are that stuck-up.

 

[nstklr]

Hi again,

The first time my books got taken by Customs I lost them completely. I reported what happened to the people I ordered them from, just to let them know.

The 2nd time was a few years ago with an order from MTJ Publishing. I cannot speak well enough about this outfit. I sent them a copy of the form sent by Customs to let them know they may have problems with Canadian orders, and they not only replaced the issue, but included another one for my troubles.

In the 2nd case with MTJ, the first order was sent, from what I understand, in an envelope with a logo on it. The one that got through was in a plain envelope with no sign of any type of company, and a customs declaration that said that these were books and a gift.

I really do believe that Customs is 'that' stuck up! 8c)

 

[The Last Laugh]

Hi again,

The first time my books got taken by Customs I lost them completely. I reported what happened to the people I ordered them from, just to let them know.

The 2nd time was a few years ago with an order from MTJ Publishing. I cannot speak well enough about this outfit. I sent them a copy of the form sent by Customs to let them know they may have problems with Canadian orders, and they not only replaced the issue, but included another one for my troubles.

In the 2nd case with MTJ, the first order was sent, from what I understand, in an envelope with a logo on it. The one that got through was in a plain envelope with no sign of any type of company, and a customs declaration that said that these were books and a gift.

I really do believe that Customs is 'that' stuck up! 8c)

I'm very sorry you've had bad experiences with orders from outside of Canada. To be honest I'm a bit surprised, but we are talking about Customs, so everything is possible. I'm grateful I have such an easy time sending packages outside of Canada.

 

[nstklr]

Keep in mind though, in your case, you are dealing with US Customs, not Canadian. There may lie the difference. 8c)

 

[The Last Laugh]

Keep in mind though, in your case, you are dealing with US Customs, not Canadian. There may lie the difference. 8c)

Yes, but like I said, I kind of thought the US Customs would be somewhat more uptight about this than the Canadian Customs. I'm a bit surprised, that's all.

 

[laughingboy2000]

Downloadable clips are always better. Nothing physical to hide.

 

[joham1]

Another issue that needs to be addressed with downloadable clips is the format you use. There seems to be a sudden surge in the number of people using Microsoft's WMV format which is worrying to anyone not using Windows since you can't be sure you'll always be able to play the videos since WMV is proprietary (and also covers several revisions under the same file extension from v7 to about v10).

The Mac player for WMV from Microsoft, for example, won't play DRM-locked WMV files. There are also certain old Real Media files that won't play any more in Real Player because they dropped support for the codec.

I like clips that stick to well documented, open standards (mp4 is currently the best/most common currently, with h.264 catching on for HD clips).

As a professional video maker I wrestle with format conversion and support daily, I don't want to have to do it in my down time!

 

[The Last Laugh]

Another issue that needs to be addressed with downloadable clips is the format you use. There seems to be a sudden surge in the number of people using Microsoft's WMV format which is worrying to anyone not using Windows since you can't be sure you'll always be able to play the videos since WMV is proprietary (and also covers several revisions under the same file extension from v7 to about v10).

The Mac player for WMV from Microsoft, for example, won't play DRM-locked WMV files. There are also certain old Real Media files that won't play any more in Real Player because they dropped support for the codec.

I like clips that stick to well documented, open standards (mp4 is currently the best/most common currently, with h.264 catching on for HD clips).

As a professional video maker I wrestle with format conversion and support daily, I don't want to have to do it in my down time!

I understand. But I'm afraid I don't have any plans to change the format, at least not for now. My technical knowledge and the software I have access to are rather limited. For me, making WMV clips is an easy and cheap process. I'm not so confident with other formats. Also, I quite like the picture quality I can get at a fairly low bitrate. All in all, WMV is a very convenient format for me.

It is my understanding that even though WMV is indeed a Microsoft (and thus mainly PC) product, more people are capable of using it than a couple years ago, including Mac users. Also, my clips do not feature DRM protection, so that's not a problem.

If using the WMV format proves to be a significant handicap in the future, I'll simply re-encode my original AVI clips to a new format. But for now, WMV is still a popular, widely used format, so I'll stick with it for a while.

 

[joham1]

It's worth noting that the current WMV format is actually a slightly bastardised version of the mp4 codec. The reason it's easy to make wmv files is so that people will use it and increase the installed base etc (and I don't blame MS for doing this - Apple does the same with Quicktime).

I have purchased clips in Real format and WMV in the past. I just hope I'll still be able to play them in the future.