Does DC United or any one on these boards have a complete set of game tapes (or close to complete) for 1996 thru 1999 seasons? That certainly would make a nice holiday gift for a United fanatic. Yabo
I have Cup finals but no season games. I've also got a copy of DC's defeat in Charleson in 1999. I wrote the League several months ago asking their price for the rights to MLS Cup games so that I could explore the feasibility of selling copies of those games on DVD. They told me that they had another interested party, or something to that effect while basically blowing me off. I've still not seen any DVD sets offered, have you? Maybe AEG's sports marketing group (SUM?) has first dibs but hasn't done anything publicly yet. GM
I have many DC United game tapes, and I am missing a few for which I would be willing to trade. However, it would be a daunting task for anyone with as many DC game tapes as I have to duplicate them for someone else. The labor alone would be prohibitive; I do need my day job. Since April of 2002, I switched to recording US domestic soccer games of all varieties on DVD (instead of VHS tape), for better and long-lasting quality. I do US National team games: men and women. I do MLS Shootout games and WUSA games on PAX and regional sports networks (like Comcast Sports and Fox Sports). I do indoor soccer, when available. I record off both DirecTV and Disk satellite systems. My basement is full of VHS tapes of soccer stored in cabinets. I have never sold a game so recorded, due to copyrights which I respect. But between soccer buddies I will share a game or two for personal use and a copying fee. Between 1996-1999, I recorded mostly off cable, so my selection is not as extensive for those years as it has become since I got satellite. But I did record as many MLS/DCU games as were shown on the major networks on cable (ESPN/2,ABC,HTS, etc.). Does anyone have a copy of the 2002 MLS All-Star Game played at RFK? I was (as a charter season ticket holder) AT the game, which experienced an hour-long, drenching rain delay, and I lost power at home at the beginning of the game, so I didn't get too much of the second half recorded, and, at 6 p.m., ABC switched the game still in progress to ESPN2. I wasn't home to react to that, either, so I didn't catch Marco's winning goal (except in person). Does anyone have the May 1, 1999 game of DC United at Chicago Fire when the Scottish exchange referee issued three red and many yellow cards as his parting statement on American soccer? I goofed up on coordinating my satellite recorder and VCR for that game off MLS Shootout, but would have loved to review that game. Other individual games I didn't get, or only got parts off, due to local weather conditions (heavy rain) blocking out the satellite signal during game broadcast. Can we talk? chrisd52
i got the same problem of having loads of games on vhs which i religiously recorded. but since the topic came up, has anybody dubbed their vhs tapes onto dvd? i was thinking of tranfering the whole lot to dvd because vhs are by now too bulky.
While I haven't converted too many of my own game tapes to DVD copy (yet), when I borrow someone else's tape of a game, I convert that tape to a couple of DVD's and then return the tape to the owner along with a DVD copy. Owners of showcase games on tape appreciate that return! The DVD copies can be no better that their tape master, of course. But they won't get any worse with age, either, like tapes would. And less bulky, too! One other advantage of recording onto DVD is the variable speed at which the game (or other program) can be recorded. Unlike VHS tape, which is limited to two speeds: SP (2-hours) or SLP/EP (6 hours), the best DVD recorders allow you to specify the length of the program and it will figure out the fastest speed (read that: highest resolution) at which it can record the program and still get the entire length onto the disk without wasting space at the end. And if you edit out the commercial breaks, thus reducing the overall length somewhat, you can get a slightly faster speed (better resolution) on your final recording. This is more true when recording from a digital source, like satellite, than when copying a tape, which has already had the resolution compromised by having originated from an analog source (like cable), by being on tape, and/or by being recorded at a slow speed.
If at least ten people were interested in getting an abbreviated history of DC United games on DVD, would chrisd52 and pepster be willing to allow your tapes to be converted into DVD by a professional service? Everyone that wanted to purchase the set would split the costs and you two would get it done for free. I don't know enough about the business side of this but would be willing to spend some time on the phone if I got a couple of leads. Yabo
The first call should be to MLS to ask for "express written consent from MLS" for copying or redistributing their material ;-) Man, reading this, I suddenly feel like not that much of a fan. I tape over most of the games, except the Cups and stuff. And barely any of them are even labeled ;-) I would LOVE to get a good copy of one of the MLS Cups, I don't remember which offhand, where DirecTV stuck a paid commercial program into the middle of the game and it is missing a half hour..... or was that just a playoff game? Old age sux. Hell, not many of the games from the first two seasons were even on TV if I recall. And then there was the news channel 8 year, where you had to have cable instead of satellite..... PS. I'd be intereted
tapes i think i would be more interested in some of the playoff games especially the ones against the crew at rfk. another awesome tape would be the concacaf games against toluca and necaxa i think where we won that at rfk. i do have the inter-american cup games on tape against vasco and mls cup 99 but thats about the extent of my collection. i would be interested in the whole dvd converting thing that has been mentioned above.
general info on VHS/DVD archive I didn't start following the team until the Dawn Of The Suckage--first game of 2000--but I have scattered matches from 2000 to 2003 on both VHS and DVD+R or DVD+RW. I finally got MLS*Shootout (one of life's great bargains) a month ago. I've fed THamlin a few matches this year for mass DVD conversion, and I'm usually willing to make the odd dub of a match for the cost of the blank disc (down to about $2.50) and postage. Because of limited storage space, I've only kept wins and eventful ties (like Saturday's C-bus game). But I'll be happy to throw my tapes/DVDs into the pot if this project gets off the ground. Also have some Washington Dips matches--mainly circa '79, '80--on disc, for trade, etc. Note to Bobby, Tino or Clint Baumstark: If you ever need ammo against "Blondie" Rongen, I've got the goods.
I do have the 1996 and 1998 MLS Cup games on high quality VHS. I *wish* DC or MLS would get these games on DVD. Stephen Zack or Don Garber, are you listening? Sachin