Avoiding pirating of DVD images

One4All wrote:
> I have many, what I consider, marketable images that I want to share
> on DVD with family/friends. I may have posted this topic some time
> ago, but I left out a consideration. The situation is this: I've
> saved these untagged images in medium .jpg format, thinking that this
> format would show ok on video screens, but be too degraded for
> printable output. Since the original post, I've thought of converting
> these images to sRGB color space to further restrict printable output.
>
> I trust my family/friends, but there is a danger of the DVD
> inadvertently falling into the hands of people who might exploit my
> work. I plan to narrate the DVD & ask in the opening that people not
> lend the DVD to anyone, that all viewing should be in their presence,
> and that if they do not wish to see the DVD again, that they destroy
> it.
>
> I realize that even tho the images would be medium .jpg's tagged as
> sRGB, use on the Web is a possibility. All I'd like to know is if it's
> worth the trouble of converting all these images to an sRGB color
> space to further reduce the use of these files, even tho they could
> be used on the Web. BTW, they are copyrighted & that will appear in
> the introduction, also.
>
> I'm not interested in hearing from people who don't care how/if their
> images are used by others. Or, if I'm so concerned, not to share the
> DVD.

Are you family members out to get you?
Are your images SO incredible that anyone who happens to see them will
immediately feel compelled to pirate them out? I have a hard time seeing a
huge threat to anyone's photography from the mere making of a DVD for family
enjoyment. Do you have a link to some of your work? I don't mean to sound
skeptical...it's just that you're taking an amazingly protective stance
here. Most families don't want to hear that there are a set of "rules" they
must follow if they are to have the opportunity to view your images. If
anything, I think these sort of "warnings" etc. only serve to plant a seed
of deviant thought into the minds of otherwise harmless viewers.
-Sort of like the way TV shows love to put on the opening line, "Parental
Discretion is advised" as nothing more than an enticement for those who like
to see stuff that has that "exclusive" or "forbidden" ring to it.

My advice:
If you don't trust your family with verbal requests that they not pass your
work on to web-designers and publishers...then don't let them see anything.
I must say, though, that this sounds like a sad state of affairs.



--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

ColinD wrote:
> One4All wrote:
>>
>> I have many, what I consider, marketable images that I want to share
>> on DVD with family/friends. I may have posted this topic some time
>> ago, but I left out a consideration. The situation is this: I've
>> saved these untagged images in medium .jpg format, thinking that
>> this format would show ok on video screens, but be too degraded for
>> printable output. Since the original post, I've thought of
>> converting these images to sRGB color space to further restrict
>> printable output.
>>
>> I trust my family/friends, but there is a danger of the DVD
>> inadvertently falling into the hands of people who might exploit my
>> work. I plan to narrate the DVD & ask in the opening that people not
>> lend the DVD to anyone, that all viewing should be in their presence,
>> and that if they do not wish to see the DVD again, that they destroy
>> it.
>>
>> I realize that even tho the images would be medium .jpg's tagged as
>> sRGB, use on the Web is a possibility. All I'd like to know is if
>> it's worth the trouble of converting all these images to an sRGB
>> color space to further reduce the use of these files, even tho they
>> could be used on the Web. BTW, they are copyrighted & that will
>> appear in the introduction, also.
>>
>> I'm not interested in hearing from people who don't care how/if their
>> images are used by others. Or, if I'm so concerned, not to share the
>> DVD.
>
> sRGB is the color space designed specifically for the web, as it
> restricts the gamut to what an average monitor or TV can display, so
> converting to sRGB will achieve nothing in the way of preventing
> unauthorized copying.
>
> Consider using a slide show program like ProShow Gold to produce a
> show of your images. Once the images are incorporated into such a
> show it is very difficult to extract them. You can produce shows in
> either *.exe format to run on computers, or as a DVD to display on
> TVs. Either one doesn't stop the show being ripped off, but either
> will stop almost all attempts to extract individual images.
>
> Colin D.

Good advice.
I should have thought of that (ProShow).
While it does offer the OPTION to include show content on the DVD, it
doesn't do this by default...rather...it simply creates the video at
television resolution. No image files are included, meaning people can only
do screen captures (total garbage for printing...even though it looks great
in motions and on-screen).

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

Bill wrote:

> Why don't you save the file at 72DPI like all the other images on the
> net in low res it will display just fine on your screen but prints out
> as lousy as a picture from an old Brownie Hawkeye. Try one and see what
> I am talking about.
>
> I email pictures at 72 DPI and low res and I wind up with a picture
> about 40K size. It is wortless to try to print, but shows up well on
> your monitor.
>
> Bill in New Mexico
>

Your advice is good but the terminology is confusing.
You don't save images at 72 dpi, or any other dpi, for that matter.
You save images at xxxPixels by yyyPixels.
For instance you can save an image as 640 X 480 pixels or 800 x 600
pixels. They will appear on TV or a computer as a nice sharp image but
will print too poorly for commercial exploitation.
Bob Williams
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

One4All wrote:
> I have many, what I consider, marketable images that I want to share on
> DVD with family/friends. I may have posted this topic some time ago,
> but I left out a consideration. The situation is this: I've saved these
> untagged images in medium .jpg format, thinking that this format would
> show ok on video screens, but be too degraded for printable output.
> Since the original post, I've thought of converting these images to
> sRGB color space to further restrict printable output.
SNIP
> I realize that even tho the images would be medium .jpg's tagged as
> sRGB, use on the Web is a possibility. All I'd like to know is if it's
> worth the trouble of converting all these images to an sRGB color space
> to further reduce the use of these files, even tho they could be used
> on the Web. BTW, they are copyrighted & that will appear in the
> introduction, also.
SNIP

Actually, if you convert it to a MPEG2 video slide show, the pics
should be pretty much unprintable. They'll be something like 352X480
(for NTSC); they'll look fine on the TV screen but will actually be
less than cell phone camera resolution. Try printing a MPEG2 movie
frame to see how poor it actually looks.

If you're using Windows XP, the included Movie Maker 2.0 will do the
job - see
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Tutorials/HowToVideoSlideShow.aspx -
otherwise programs like MyDVD or Pictureshow (or many others - see
http://www.pcworld.com/article/119017-1/article.html for a few more)
will do the job.
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

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 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

My S2 Pro produces 72dpi images and prints really fine on a 8x10

"Bill" <billnospam2000.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1154127826.631738.55380@s13g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Why don't you save the file at 72DPI like all the other images on the
> net in low res it will display just fine on your screen but prints out
> as lousy as a picture from an old Brownie Hawkeye. Try one and see what
> I am talking about.
>
> I email pictures at 72 DPI and low res and I wind up with a picture
> about 40K size. It is wortless to try to print, but shows up well on
> your monitor.
>
> Bill in New Mexico
>
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

Mark² (lowest even number here) wrote:

>
> My advice:
> If you don't trust your family with verbal requests that they not pass your
> work on to web-designers and publishers...then don't let them see anything.
> I must say, though, that this sounds like a sad state of affairs.
>

I agree with PW, here. The OP's paranoia serves no purpose.
Look at the two possibilities he provides:

1. Someone rips off his pics and uses them on the Web (Woooooo ...
scary!)
In this case he gets nothing out of it.

2. His family members view the disc and then destroy it so nobody else
can use the pics. In this case he gets nothing out of it (except
perhaps pissing off a few family members with his paranoia).

A 3rd scenario, which the OP didn't mention, would be to have a brief
message on the disc telling the viewer that if they would like a
reprint of any of the photos that he would gladly oblige, for a small
fee of course. That way, he might actually make a little something on
the deal.
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

One4All wrote:
> I trust my family/friends, but there is a danger of the DVD
> inadvertently falling into the hands of people who might exploit my
> work.

These must be some fine images. Let me guess .... Australian calendar
shots?
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

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 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

Annika1980 wrote:
> One4All wrote:
> > I trust my family/friends, but there is a danger of the DVD
> > inadvertently falling into the hands of people who might exploit my
> > work.
>
> These must be some fine images. Let me guess .... Australian calendar
> shots?

How did you know?
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:48:23 GMT, Rodney Reason wrote:

>> I'm not interested in hearing from people who don't care how/if their
>> images are used by others. Or, if I'm so concerned, not to share the
>> DVD.
>
> I suppose that means you're not interested in hearing
> from people who think you might be more than slightly
> paranoid, and that you should probably go back on your
> meds...

You were supposed to follow the OP's advice and refrain from
replying, based on your opinion. This should be provide a wake up
call for him, because his request to those that receive his DVD :

> I plan to narrate the DVD & ask in the opening that people not lend
> the DVD to anyone, that all viewing should be in their presence, and
> that if they do not wish to see the DVD again, that they destroy it.

is bound to be respected just as you did. In other words, he
comes across as having more than a touch of paranoia, and his
attitude will probably goad some into trying to do the "exploiting"
that he fears. Hollywood places FBI warnings on their products, but
if it acts as a deterrent to copying, it's primarily to those that
wouldn't have been of a mind to make copies anyway.

While this doesn't have much bearing on the OP's situation, the
best deterrent to piracy is to have reasonable prices, and although
DVDs of recent films are going to have high prices, there are many
decades worth of older films that can be found on DVD at greatly
reduced prices ($1 to $4).
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

One4All wrote:
> I have many, what I consider, marketable images that I want to share on
> DVD with family/friends. I may have posted this topic some time ago,
> but I left out a consideration. The situation is this: I've saved these
> untagged images in medium .jpg format, thinking that this format would
> show ok on video screens, but be too degraded for printable output.
> Since the original post, I've thought of converting these images to
> sRGB color space to further restrict printable output.
>
> I trust my family/friends, but there is a danger of the DVD
> inadvertently falling into the hands of people who might exploit my
> work. I plan to narrate the DVD & ask in the opening that people not
> lend the DVD to anyone, that all viewing should be in their presence,
> and that if they do not wish to see the DVD again, that they destroy
> it.
>
> I realize that even tho the images would be medium .jpg's tagged as
> sRGB, use on the Web is a possibility. All I'd like to know is if it's
> worth the trouble of converting all these images to an sRGB color space
> to further reduce the use of these files, even tho they could be used
> on the Web. BTW, they are copyrighted & that will appear in the
> introduction, also.
>
> I'm not interested in hearing from people who don't care how/if their
> images are used by others. Or, if I'm so concerned, not to share the
> DVD.

Thanks for all your replies. Should have said I have a Mac system &
iMovie is my app. Gleaning the wheat from the chaf, Bill in NM said
reduce to 72 DPI & I'll check on that. Mark, my family/friends are
solid. Notice, I said "...*inadvertently falling* into the hands of..."
Nobody would *intentionally* pass the DVD on to a pirate. What I'm
trying to do is balance sharing with risk & whether there's a way of
sharing with least risk of piracy. I suppose that giving the DVD to
family/friends, whom I trust, the risk is low, without insulting them
with caveats.

Viewing Gene's slideshows (very good, BTW) has given me some ideas re:
transitions. I'm assuming exposure of each image was 5 seconds, another
issue I was wondering about. It's incredible the brief amount of time a
person needs to enjoy an image. Boring viewers is the other side of the
equation. : )

Annika: Get lost. HEMI, I've filed for copyright of these images, easy
and cheap ($30 for the CD). The problem is knowing of an infringement.
Your advice is the heaviest. Guess I'll just burn a DVD of grandma, the
kids, grandkids,etc.

It's really sad that I can't share my best photographic works with
family/friends on DVD, not because they are untrustworthy, but because
of the uncertainty of where one's work will wind up in this predatory
world: "You're not paranoic if you know someone wants to kill you." Or
words to that effect.
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images 

On 7/28/06 4:26 PM, Bob Williams wrote:
>
> Bill wrote:
>
>> Why don't you save the file at 72DPI like all the other images on the
>> net in low res it will display just fine on your screen but prints out
>> as lousy as a picture from an old Brownie Hawkeye. Try one and see what
>> I am talking about.
>>
>> I email pictures at 72 DPI and low res and I wind up with a picture
>> about 40K size. It is wortless to try to print, but shows up well on
>> your monitor.
>
> Your advice is good but the terminology is confusing.
> You don't save images at 72 dpi, or any other dpi, for that matter.
> You save images at xxxPixels by yyyPixels.
> For instance you can save an image as 640 X 480 pixels or 800 x 600
> pixels. They will appear on TV or a computer as a nice sharp image but
> will print too poorly for commercial exploitation.

And, converting to sRGB is not going to stop those who might steal, but
the size as noted above is what's germane. Have you also considered
watermarking/logo-ing the images?

--
John McWilliams
 >> Stay informed about: Avoiding pirating of DVD images