Rob Blaine

[messyfun1]

I recently started working on updating the site Rob created, messyfun. I have a ton of high quality VHS that he made from early to late 90s and was trying to gauge interest in them. There are a lot, so if there isn't much of an interest in them I will start working towards new material. I've done a couple of digital copies and they seem to be pretty fair quality, obviously no HD, and stuck with standard 4:3 ratio. Anyway, thanks in advance for your opinion!

[messylaura]

no point in dumping wam material, maybe a small clip of the quality etc would get a better related opinion

[BillShipton]

What's the situation with the current Messy Fun organisation? Do they not own the rights to any existing material?

[Spinynorman and Frilly]

Well that certainly brings back some memories.

[messyfun1]

Yes they still have all rights to materials, I'm just taking on the load of a major rebuild of site along with some video editing as well. The new site should be up within the week, and as soon as that is done I am going to upload a sample of the VHS copies I make, and also begin editing some new material that has been on hold

[Spinynorman and Frilly]

Will there be a forum attached as was the case when Chik 'n' Soup was up and running?

[messyfun1]

There have been a few talks about possibly creating a forum on the site, as of right now it's just an idea being tossed around though.

[Regisblb]

Very eager to see any of Rob's vintage stuff back in circulation as DVDs or downloads, at any level of quality. I've chatted with Brittany about this over the years and am delighted that it's finally coming to fruition.

The Classicwam download offerings were definitely "better than nothing" quality -- hopefully you're undertaking a remaster that will improve a little bit on those versions, although I realize there's a ceiling on what you can do with material that old.

I'm a bit curious as to why there's been no mention of this on the UMD yet -- I'm sure there are folks over there who will be enthusiastic as well.

[messyfun1]

Tomorrow I plan on taking a short break from working on the actual site itself to start working on some of those VHS, from what I've seen I should be able to get a fairly good quality copy. I know I am supposed to be getting some new footage that has just been edited in the next week or two, and I have a meeting with Brittany next week to discuss a few things. I feel like things are moving a lot quicker than I had anticipated, and in a good way! Knowing the site was over 15 years old made it a little daunting to try and bring up to speed! I've been enjoying it though, and hopefully you all enjoy the site as well!

[messyfun1]

as promised here is a raw sample of some of the VHS footage I'm restoring! Still needs a bit of work, let me know how it's looking and what video player you use, it seems to look pretty good on MPC.

Download the sample here!

[Spinynorman and Frilly]

Windows media player wont play it.

[Spinynorman and Frilly]

Windows media player wont play it.

But now it does.

.....and very nice it is too.

[alext]

Windows media player wont play it.

VLC Player works pretty well.

And well worth it it is too! The picture's pretty good for a VHS reedit, and although I'm not a huge fan of the background music, I like the fact that it's low enough that you can hear all the dialogue, not to mention the squelches!

Really looking forward to seeing some uploaded to the Messyfun download store - I'll get in line

[fred2422]

DivX plays it well. Quality is better than I expected from a VHS re-edit.

[fred2422]

I find vlc player does a very good job. If the scale function is disabled the quality becomes quite good.