50 YEAR REUNION PROGRAM VIDEO
Here's how to view — and get your own copy — of the video featuring the whole Saturday Night Program! Once again, our evening comes to life! For those who were unable to attend the reunion, the video is the next best thing to being there.
AVAILABILITY
The video is available in two different ways. If you are interested in keeping your own copy of the video, there is currently a download link set up so you can get the video and watch it anytime on your computer, portable devices, or set-top box at your TV. If you'd like to simply stream it off the internet, the video has been uploaded to YouTube (on a non-public basis). The video is not available as a playable DVD; the file is so huge it would require at least 4 DVDs (and a whole lot of work).
CHOICES
Knowing that the total running time of just under 2 hours might be more than everyone is interested in, the program is available — streaming YouTube as well as download — in its entirety as well as in 20 different clips ranging from 2 to 10 minutes in length. The 20 different clips comprise the entirety of the program. So, in both streaming and download, the program is available in its entirety or in parts. Your choice.
And you may even want to mix it up: watch a segment or two on YouTube and, if you decide you’d like your own copy, then download what you want. With streaming, obviously, there are no files added to your computer; you just watch. The full program download is 17.2 GB in total, and the 20 parts of the program also add up to 17.2 GB of space on your computer. The file format is MP4 (MPEG-4 Codec), which should be playable on all computers and devices.
If your computer is short on storage space, an external hard drive of 500 GB is available at Best Buy for as little as $50 (twice that amount of storage for just $5 more). Cheaper yet, a 32 GB flash drive is available at Best Buy for as little as $10.
LINKS
The YouTube videos are “Unlisted” videos, meaning you are required to have a link provided to you to access it; they are not “Public” videos. The YouTube streaming videos as well as the downloads can be accessed by clicking the links below. If you’d like to keep your own copy of these links for future use (beyond simply returning to this web page), you can select the whole text area containing these links (below) with your cursor, select “Copy" and then Paste them into any other document on your computer created by any word processing, spreadsheet, notes, or email program. The links should still be active wherever they are placed. This will provide you with clickable links to these videos for future viewing at any time. You can also simply access this page whenever you'd like to see one of the videos by way of the links provided below.
If you’d like to keep these links handy and are not successful doing the copy-and-paste, contact us at the "Contact Us" page at lower left (or send an email to phsmnclassof1966@gmail.com) requesting the complete set of these links. Ask for the “Reunion Program Links.” They will be sent to you in an email that you can keep handy for handy future use.
The video file downloads are on a website called Hightail. Note that the links were supposed to expire some time ago, but haven't (not sure why). The YouTube streaming links will remain indefinitely.
VIDEO CONTENT
As to content of the video, it contains the entire Saturday Night Program. And since we had no video camera person to catch all the action, what was filmed was what the camera witnessed on stage. Except for one brief segment, the camera was pointed at the stage on a tripod for the whole program. To compensate for some of the action that happened on the floor, I have spliced in dozens of still photos to help tell the story of our wonderful evening together.
In addition to the video shot on an iPhone 6 Plus, I was also shooting video on the previously “best” format, Mini-DV format video tape. A one-trick-pony late-model, then-state-of-the-art video camera, it was also capturing the action but — compared to the iPhone — it had bad color, fuzzy images, bad sound....and the tape ran out before the program was finished. I didn’t use a bit of it, but it’s what was used to project the images of our various awards on the big screen at the event. At the podium, we switched back and forth between the live camera feed of the podium and the computer generated images, so that video camera at least provided that function.
Housekeeping note: what you see on stage — in addition to people — are my unsightly equipment storage bins and other clutter. In the rush to get set up for the evening, I was thinking more about what the audience was seeing on stage, and obviously not at all thinking about the camera’s view, which was a bit off to the side to be out of everyone's way. So, the staging isn’t the Academy Awards quality, just “Reality TV” quality!
VIEWING
Since the YouTube videos are Unlisted and not Public they are not searchable on YouTube. Therefore, you can’t directly access them from an internet connected TV (since there’s typically no way to initiate a link except on a TV), though you can view a YouTube video on a portable device by accessing this web page and clicking the YouTube links below.
In addition to being viewable on a computer, though, your home system may be set up to beam your computer’s video feed to your TV by wifi or ethernet connection (either directly if it’s an internet-capable TV, or via a set-top box such as Apple TV, Roku, and others), in which case you can watch the video on your big flat screen TV by accessing video streaming from your computer. Alternatively, you can stream it directly from your phone or tablet to your TV set by accessing this page on your portable device, clicking the YouTube links below, and using your home wifi to beam the signal to your TV via set-top box or internet-enabled TV via Apple AirPlay or similar.
The same is true of downloaded files if you have Apple TV, Roku, or other devices connected to your TV set that allows programs to be fed to it via what’s playing on your computer. So, whether it’s a downloaded file or streaming YouTube, it’s possible to enjoy the video on your big screen by way of the signal coming from your computer (with or without an external drive or flash drive attached to your computer) to the set-top box to the TV set (though the newest TVs may be able to do without the intermediate step of the set-top box). If you have loaded the files onto a portable device (phone or tablet) you can also beam the signals via wifi to your TV via set-top box or internet-enabled TV via Apple AirPlay or similar.
MANAGING DOWNLOADED VIDEO
The other way to get downloaded video files to your TV set is to make use of a 32 GB or higher capacity flash drive (mentioned above in “Choices”) and plug it into a late model TV set (see your TV owner’s manual for features and settings) which will be able to play the videos off your flash drive. Getting the video onto a big flat screen TV is the way to go!
There is yet another way to do this — and to take your videos with you, too. If you use an internet-connected photo storage program such as Google Photos or Apple’s “Photos”, it can provide video that is accessible to your computer, your big TV, as well as your portable devices (phones and tablets).
Using Apple products as an example, once your files are downloaded to your computer, drag them into the Mac Photos app. After they have uploaded to “the Cloud” (the Apple server, and this can take some time because they are big files), they are then available for streaming on your Apple TV (which is connected to your TV set by HDMI cable) as well as streaming to your iPhones and iPad. Now you can view and show-and-tell your reunion video wherever you are! Same goes for Google Photos and other similar internet-based photo/video storage/sharing services.
VIDEO SEGMENTS
For all segments (or the whole program), click on “YouTube” (below) to stream that video. Note the box-shaped icon in the lower right corner of the video window will provide full screen viewing. Exit full screen in the same way: click on the box-shaped icon at lower right.
Click on “Download” to get your own copy saved to your computer. Please note that video files are large files; they may take a while to download, depending on the speed of your internet service. At the Hightail website, if the page opens into "Icon View" (very large "thumbnail" visuals laid out in a grid), position your curson over the video segment you'd like to download and then click on the "Down Arrow" icon that appears. The file will save to your computer's Downloads folder. If the page opens onto the "List View", click on the small "thumbnail" visual(s) at left for the segment(s) you want, then click on the ellipse icon at upper right (three dots) and select "Download" to download them all at the same time. Note that the view is switchable by way of the icons situated a couple of inches below the "PHS" near the top (the "grid" icon or the "list" icon).
Video segment time (below) is listed in minutes. All segments, YouTube or Download, are in 1080p HD video.
Part Time Description
All 113 Entire program (1 hour and 53 minutes)
01 6.5 Opening remarks (George, Tim M.)
02 2.5 Announcements: Deceased classmates, program format (George)
03 3.5 George & Mike H. boogie down, Email Guess Award (Mike P.)
04 14.8 Recollections (George, Mike H.)
05 2.5 Cheerleaders (Martha)
06 2.5 Award: Golf (Phil W.)
07 8.1 Award entry: Tall Tale (Mike P.)
08 10.0 Award entry: Tall Tale (Tim O.)
09 5.2 Award entry: Tall Tale (Mike H.), Award Winner: Tim O.
10 3.0 Award: Princeton Trophy Tour (Phil G.)
11 7.5 Award: Essay Contest (Tim O.)
12 1.7 Award: Authentic '66 (Clarice, Tim O.)
13 8.0 Awards and events: Longest Married (Kathy B.),
Oldest Classmate (Dewey), Most Recently Wed (Dick Jones),
Youngest Classmate (Margie, who gets a dance from Mike)
14 7.2 Awards and events: Married Most Often (Evangeline),
Oldest Child (Lois), Youngest Child (Rodger A.), Most Children (Russell)
15 5.4 Awards and events: Techo Challenged (Frank),
Sent to Principal's Office Most (John K.), Most Grandkids (Marsha),
Most Great Grandkids (Marsha)
16 3.5 Awards and events: Longest Owned House (Gary M.),
Longest Owned Car (Dick J.)
17 5.6 Awards and events: Traveled the furthest (Evangeline, Sue P., Geri, Julie),
Traveled the Least (Phil G.), No Surgeries (Martha), Perfect Attendance
18 4.7 Awards and events: Bottom 90% Club,
Most Tardy Attendee (Tim O., Dick J., Dewey, Gary M.),
Boomerang Award (Kathy B., John K., Laurene L., Cathy S., Dick J.),
Nut Dishes
19 3.7 Awards and events: Most Awards (Phil G., Tim O., Dick J.),
Most Home Addresses,
Retired the Longest (Marsha)
20 7.0 Special Awards: (Mike H., George, Jean, Alan, Carolyn),
Most Names (Julie), Good Sense (Allan W.), Z-Man (Larry Z).
Announcements, Mike's gift (Sue Carol)
NERD STATION
For those who would like the web addresses to the above links, here is the complete list. The list can be saved to any computer program you'd like to use as a reference. Each web address can be pasted into your web browser search bar to access each item.
— Mike Heymer 