This 2 minute black screen video, created automatically from one of Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental MP3 files, is part of a feasibility study. Lord Sri Krishna willing, more will follow.
Arr ATL 1975-02-28 So I See Your Temple Is the Best
From: http://causelessmercy.com/a/?AK=aa
Note: The black screen is intentional. Please use the captions (CC button).
Question: Why publish MP3 files as black screen YouTube videos using YouTube’s captions option rather than with transcendental pictures and/or the transcriptions as part of the video?
Answers:
1. Subtitles (captions) in languages other than English may be easily added to the YouTube videos at any time in the future.
2. All of Srila Prabhupada’s MP3 files can be converted to black screen video files automatically in one fell swoop!
3. The resultant video files are only a tiny bit larger than the original MP3 files. Therefore, all of Srila Prabhupada’s published audio lectures/conversations, in the form of black screen video files, may be easily stored on one 32GB USB flash drive.
4. There are no pictures to distract from the all-important transcendental sound vibration emanating from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus lips.
Your servant, Pratyatosa Dasa
Concerning <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMkKdtxgCg>, all 1843 of Srila Prabhupada’s “officially” published lecture/conversation MP3s have now been converted to black screen, YouTube compatible MKV video files. The 1843 video files take up 15.1 GB compared to 12.6 GB for the original MP3 files.
However, we are still in a trial period. “A good building is built upon a solid foundation.” As part of this trial period feasibility study, I have changed the title to:
Hare Krishna – Prabhupada – LC10019 – Arr ATL 1975-02-28 So I See Your Temple Is the Best
My reasoning behind this choice is as follows:
1. The Arr ATL 1975-02-28 So I See Your Temple Is the Best portion is the title assigned to the original MP3 file by the Bhaktivedanta Archives.
2. People searching for Hare Krishna or Prabhupada may be able to find it.
3. The Hare Krishna – Prabhupada – LC1… prefix will cause the video files to be automatically arranged in a logical sequence when stored, for example, on a computer hard drive.
4. A sequence number (LC10019) is important so that devotees who are collecting these videos will know whether or not they are missing any. This particular sequence number format has the following meaning: The 19th video in the Causelessmercy Channel’s 1st Lecture/Conversation series. A music series could be M1001, M1002, etc. If the BA ever releases a new (hopefully unedited) series of Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and conversations, then that series could be designated LC20001, LC20002, etc. The sequence number also means that this particular video is the 19th shortest in the series. (The shortest will be LC10001, and the longest will be LC11843.) The main reason for doing it this way is that video length on YouTube is critical. If the YouTube powers-that-be don’t allow videos longer than 15 minutes to be uploaded, then the series will end at LC10197. Otherwise, it will, hopefully, end at LC11843. (To see the complete list with sequence numbers corresponding to the LC1 numbers, go to <http://causelessmercy.com/a/?PL=More&SB=Dur>.) Another advantage of sequencing the videos by duration is that devotees wishing to play one as a class in the temple room, for example, will obviously be limited to a particular time slot. In such a case, the sequence numbers will come in handy for helping to find a video of a particular duration.
If any of you have a comment, a question, or a suggestion, please feel free.
Ys, Ptd
Please check the New Causelessmercy Channel YouTube Video thread on the Prabhupadanuga forum for a recent update:
http://groups.google.com/group/istagosthi/browse_thread/thread/ea496d28c9c474b5
All 1843 of Srila Prabhupada’s “officially” published lectures/conversations have again been converted to YouTube compatible black screen MKV video files, this time using an improved Perl script that I am completely satisfied with. These 1843 MKV files take up 20.5 GB, almost twice the space of the original MP3 files. Although they are significantly larger than the previous versions, they have the following advantages:
1. The video files are never more than 1 second longer than the corresponding MP3 files.
2. Some players (not YouTubes’s) display the subtitles at higher resolutions if the videos are higher resolution. Since the videos are 1080p (1920×1080 pixels), a high subtitle resolution for these particular players is possible.
3. The goal, when creating the SRT subtitle files, is to make them accurate to within a tenth of a second. Since most players only check the subtitle timing once for each video frame, it is important for the video to have a high frame rate. All of the newly created videos have a frame rate of 29.917 fps, which is more than adequate for maintaining the tenth of a second subtitle accuracy.
The 1st video in this series has been deleted because it was replaced by a superior version from the newly created video files. The new URL is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikcEnygWZE
In addition, 3 more videos have been uploaded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELACrhQxPOg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EdQGlx_rNI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2UilGmEts
Ys, Ptd
I uploaded 15 more videos just now. To see the whole list, go to <http://www.youtube.com/user/causelessmercy?feature=watch>. If you want to be automatically notified whenever a new video is uploaded, then please subscribe to the YouTube Causelessmercy Channel.
I am open to suggestions. If we are going to change anything, now is the time to do it.
Latest video upload: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMgEfaqCpvA>
The former title format turned out to be a bad idea. Having all of the titles begin with “Hare Krishna – Prabhupada – LC1…” was great for keeping track of the videos on a computer hard drive after downloading them (using <http://keepvid.com/>, for example), but, the trouble is, one video could not be distinguished from another on the <http://www.youtube.com/user/causelessmercy/videos> listing. The new title format is definitely a compromise, but at least all of the videos will still be grouped together, in order by duration, and the underline character at the beginning will cause them to be at the top of your hard drive directory when a folder full of video downloads is sorted by file name.
Here is an example of the new format (All titles in the LC1 series have now been changed to this new format.):
_LC10020 Story 18 Stool and urine (Hare Krishna, Prabhupada)
Ys, Ptd
There is also a Causelessmercy Channel on DailyMotion.com (<
http://www.dailymotion.com/user/causelessmercy/1>).
It now contains the first 34 videos in Srila Prabhupada’s LC1 Series, same as the
Causelessmercy Channel on YouTube (<
http://www.youtube.com/user/causelessmercy).
The biggest advantage of DailyMotion is that, unlike
YouTube, it supports subtitles containing italics.
The biggest disadvantage is that there is always an unskippable ad
preceding each video.
Ys, Ptd