by Max Barry

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Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:Here is a question to tech-savvy people: I took some very short videos today with my phone (2-3 min each), and was surprised to discover upon coming home that the file sizes are huge (ranging from 60 MB to 400+ MB) - and given how short the videos are and the absence of any spectacular quality, even the longest video shouldn't have been more than 20 MB or so, I think.

Does anyone have any idea why these videos may be so monstrous? o.O

P.S. I hope you guys like my new flag and the other changes I made in honor of St. Patrick.

What is the resolution of the clips? Which file format are they in?

Turbeaux wrote:What is the resolution of the clips? Which file format are they in?

MP4

They are 1920*1080 pixels.

Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:MP4

They are 1920*1080 pixels.

Are you worried about the space that video is taking up on your phone or do you need smaller files for some other purpose? It is pretty easy to downscale video on a computer. I use Lightworks in Windows for light video editing and scaling. All you could do on your phone to cut file size is switching to 720p.

Turbeaux wrote:Are you worried about the space that video is taking up on your phone or do you need smaller files for some other purpose? It is pretty easy to downscale video on a computer. I use Lightworks in Windows for light video editing and scaling. All you could do on your phone to cut file size is switching to 720p.

No, frankly I am just confused and was wondering about the reason.

I uploaded the videos to the cloud and then deleted them from my phone, so storage is not a problem at the moment. It's just my curiosity.

Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:Here is a question to tech-savvy people: I took some very short videos today with my phone (2-3 min each), and was surprised to discover upon coming home that the file sizes are huge (ranging from 60 MB to 400+ MB) - and given how short the videos are and the absence of any spectacular quality, even the longest video shouldn't have been more than 20 MB or so, I think.

Does anyone have any idea why these videos may be so monstrous? o.O

P.S. I hope you guys like my new flag and the other changes I made in honor of St. Patrick.

What's the frame- and bitrate? 1080p (aka "Full HD") footage can take up quite a lot of space depending on the aforementioned factors, as well as format (as mentioned by Turbeaux) and codec.

For reference: 13 mp4:s (H264) with a total length of 9 minutes, a frame rate of 60fps and a bitrate of 50k kbps consumes approximately 3GB of space.

Novian Republics wrote:What's the frame- and bitrate? 1080p (aka "Full HD") footage can take up quite a lot of space depending on the aforementioned factors, as well format (as mentioned by Turbeaux) and codec.

For reference: 13 mp4:s (H264) with a total length of 9 minutes, a frame rate of 60fps and a bitrate of 50k kbps consumes approximately 3GB of space.

Thanks for pointing this out.

They are 30 frames per second, and the total bitrate is 17227 kbps.

Turbeaux is running? :0

Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:Thanks for pointing this out.

They are 30 frames per second, and the total bitrate is 17227 kbps.

Ok, so I've just made a [very] rough formula that is probably nowhere near accurate, but with the data you've provided it gets roughly the same size in the lower range, that is approx. ~65 MB on a 2 min vid. It also stays pretty much true across all my reference vids. However, it doesn't manage to reach your higher range with it peaking at ~100 MB. I theorise that this may be due to primarily two factors, that is compression and variable bitrate. Now, to my understanding they are both influenced to a degree by the amount of movement in a vid, which 1. increases the amount of unique frames and/or pixels thus making it less compressible and 2. increases bitrate.

TL:DR: Static vids take up less space than vids with lots of movement (if the compression is any good that is).

Formula for reference: (resolution (mp) * frame rate (fps) * bitrate (kbps) * time (s)) / 106

Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:Thanks for pointing this out.

They are 30 frames per second, and the total bitrate is 17227 kbps.

Codecs can be strange. Sometimes entire 1080p movies can fit in a 1.5 GB HEVC file. That bitrate seems rather high!

Chan island

Once again proud to announce my joke candidacy for the title of Forest Keeper.

This time, I promise all Forestians a warm glowing feeling of accomplishment and/or mischievousness, followed by a short stage of bemusement and then the feeling of horror and remorse if I win the role.

In addition, I promise that Forest will start guided tours of NSG, presented by yours truly, because apparently that's where I've decided to spend most of my NationStates time these days. Radiation suits will not be provided, as we are very eco-conscious about the environmental damage the manufacturing process of these things creates.

And I promise my first voter an exclusive look into my latest issue too, because it seems I've got another one in and it hasn't been reported yet. ^^

I'd vote for you, but...

we'll find it soon enough. :')

Jutsa wrote:Turbeaux is running? :0

Yes, I am! I was involved in a variety of activities as DFK and think that I may be ready for the big treehouse! Also, I know that I will have the time to fulfill my duties (if I am elected).

So I'm not quite sure if this is the best time or place to say this, but since the election cycle is starting, I might as well. I don't want to sound egotistical by suggesting that the new Forest Keeper would re-appoint me, but since I was a government member until yesterday, I would like to say I'm not looking to be reappointed.

I'm going to be doing ministry work across Canada starting at the beginning of August, so I would miss a part of the term, as well as an embassy update, because I wouldn't have internet. I'll still write one for April, once the election cycle is done, but after that I would like to pass the responsibility to someone else, so that there isn't issues getting further updates out.

That said, thank you to Uan aa Boa for giving me the chance to start a hopefully long-lasting tradition, and thank you in general to everyone in Forest for making this such a great region.

I'm excited to see both Turbeaux and Chan island running, though. I think they would both be great, and I can't wait to see what happens in the campaigning period.

Edit: Note to any historians. It's now 2021 and we haven't had a Voice of Forest for well over a year. The "long-standing tradition" thing aged poorly.

Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, Sapnu puas, Turbeaux, and 3 othersLarifien, Rivienland, and Novian Republics

Canaltia wrote:...suggesting that the new Forest Keeper would re-appoint me, but since I was a government member until yesterday, I would like to say I'm not looking to be reappointed.

Thank you for committing to write an April embassy update! Would anyone like to be considered to fill Canaltia's shoes after that?

Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, Sapnu puas, Canaltia, and 1 otherRivienland

March Madness Announcement!

Hello Forest! March Madness is upon us! And with it comes the return of Texas's annual ***March Madness Bracket Competition***! Where Texans and allies pick brackets for March Madness for fun! No wagering, no money, no prize, just for fun and some good ole bragging rights!

Bracket Submissions Close upon the beginning of the first round on Thursday, March 21st! Limit two brackets per person. Submit your bracket at the link below:
http://texasregion.net/brackets/index.php

Happy Picking and may the best bracket win!

Indian Empire wrote:March Madness Announcement!

Hello Forest! March Madness is upon us! And with it comes the return of Texas's annual ***March Madness Bracket Competition***! Where Texans and allies pick brackets for March Madness for fun! No wagering, no money, no prize, just for fun and some good ole bragging rights!

Bracket Submissions Close upon the beginning of the first round on Thursday, March 21st! Limit two brackets per person. Submit your bracket at the link below:
http://texasregion.net/brackets/index.php

Happy Picking and may the best bracket win!

The "create bracket" page will not allow me to select the Final Four. Oh well, I am not good at these in any case.

Turbeaux wrote:The "create bracket" page will not allow me to select the Final Four. Oh well, I am not good at these in any case.

Did you select/highlight winners from the regional championship games, so that it auto-filled those to the Final Four section?

Verdant Haven wrote:Did you select/highlight winners from the regional championship games, so that it auto-filled those to the Final Four section?

Yeah that's a must. Final Four is at bottom. I'm not sure how this problem emerged as I'm not the one running the domain (that'd be NewTexas ), so perhaps he can help more than I can.

Verdant Haven wrote:Did you select/highlight winners from the regional championship games, so that it auto-filled those to the Final Four section?

Yes, but it did not auto-fill them.

I FINALLY got someone to represent Valentine Z's Nature, and she is literally called "Mother Nature".

I am going for a cute and young (but not too young) woman, and of course, something that is very obviously not lewd. Took a while to search, but there she is! Meet Klarissa! :D

Name: Klarissa Citron Ashe Tiara Hope Ann “Moeder Natuur” Summer, De Eerste Verpersoonlijking van De Sierlijke und Verwonderlijk Feline Utopia ov Valentine Z (The First Personification of The Graceful and Wonderful Feline Utopia of Valentine Z)
Age: n.v.t.
Personality: Cheerful and Happy, a little too kind at times to people around her. Loves nature a lot.
Height: 4000 cm (131 ft 2.8 in)
Weight: 250 kg


Portrait of Klarissa. Source: Unknown at this point. It was from a website of anime-based wallpapers.

Description: A personification of what The Meowvellous Wonderful World of Valentine Z as a nation stands for, Klarissa is the very first personification of Valentine Z, formerly known as the Mother Nature of the world around her. She is usually seen as happy and cheerful just like the rest of the Valentians, though she is much more reserved, and mostly shows her kind attitude towards her actions.

She was commonly known as the Mother Nature from the old world, though the existence of her were a matter of myths and since no one has seen her in real life at those moments. There were a few people who might have seen her, but they either cited amnesia, or that they were uncertain on whether she was Mother Nature herself. When the Cold War happened as usual, she was assumed dead, just like the rest of the unfortunate people and animals that were unable to be saved by the Valentians.

However, when the terraforming efforts come into play and natural sceneries were put back in place, Klarissa came out of her hiding and announced herself as the one from the many myths and legends - Mother Nature. Valentijn then made her to be the very first personification of Valentine Z; Klarissa represents Nature, Anna represents Joy and Happiness, and Cyan would represent the Love for Cats.

Class

HP

Magazine Size

Damage Per Hit (DPH)

Rate of Fire (ROF) / Hits per second

Damage Per Second (DPS)

All-Rounder

2,114,434

50

1586

4

6344

Primary Attack: A beam of light that affects multiple enemies in a line. Effective range is 40 meters, and is perfectly accurate. Base DPH is 20, with rate of fire being 4 ticks / second.
Force of Nature (Passive): Damage, HP, and abilities scales up (or down) with Environmental Beauty (EB, NS Stats). Damage at 20 base + (0.75 * EB)%, HP at 10000 base + (2 * EB)%.
Environmental Beauty (Passive): Determines how strong, or how weak, Klarissa will be in relative to her surroundings. This is taken from Valentine Z's NS Stats. Currently 9,690.47%.
Root: Unleashes a burst of thorn-like plants from the ground, binding up to 4 enemies to the ground in a 5 m radius. The roots damage is at 100 + (0.10 * EB) % DPS for 3.5 seconds.
Tranquil Resolve: When activated, allies around Klarissa heals at 500% of their normal healing rates. Ability lasts for 4 + (EB / 1000) secs, and takes 0.2 secs to channel. Interruptible.
Nature's Wrath: Summon 4 Ents to fight for Klarissa. The Ents have (500 + 0.5 * EB%) HP, attacks at 1.5 ticks per second, and DPS of (400 + 0.01 * EB%). The ents last for 30 seconds.
Thorns Aura: When activated, attacking Klarissa with a melee attack will reflect back (10 + 0.1 * EB%) % of the damage back to her attacker. Ability lasts for 20 sec, non-interruptible.
Protective Gaia (Ultimate): When activated, Klarissa gives the allies around her in a 8-meter AoE a 20,000 HP shield that blocks all attacks. Decays at 4000 HP / sec, 1 sec channeling.

Name: Anna “De Eeuwige Vreugde” Caitlin Madeline Brigitte Priscilla Teresa Mavis Thanda Pwint Thinzar Nwe, Tweede Verpersoonlijking van De Sierlijke und Verwonderlijk Feline Utopia ov Valentine Z (The Second Personification of The Graceful and Wonderful Feline Utopia of Valentine Z)
Age: n.v.t.
Personality: Cheerful, Happy, A little too carefree. Not happy all the time, mind you.
Height: 5555.55 cm (182 ft 3.22 in)
Weight: 200 kg

Description: A personification of what The Meowvellous Wonderful World of Valentine Z as a nation emotes for, Anna “Joy” Star is a self-proclaimed entity of the nation itself. According to her, she was a result of a nuclear attack in [DATA REDACTED], USA, having an energetic focus, similar to the one that produced The Heldere n Betoverde Dimensie of Garden at 6th Mile Road, but on a smaller scale. Preliminary tests suggest that she is entirely made out of light, but unlike Holly, she is neither cold nor warm to the human touch and maintains a 25 ± 3 deg. Celsius feel to her body. She initially roamed the destroyed Earth for a couple of days, while somehow evading the detection from the Valentians’ radars and watchful eyes. At those days, she was rather mournful and lamenting about the state that humanity is in, even going as far as to state that, “Perhaps… perhaps we need a new beginning.”

While she spent her time wandering around, the terraforming has begun. She was more or less unaffected by it, and by this time, she realised that it is time for humanity to be cheerful and happy of the life ahead of them instead of sorrowful over the deaths of the past. After all, while tragic as it is, it simply could not be avoided.

She made her way to Aoutpine Yangon and after many convincing, announced that she be made the mascot and representative for Valentine Z and its the bright and solarpunk-themed future. It was also revealed to be her that she sent a “saboteur” to adjust the emotions on Clarissa while she was on her sleep mode, making her into the cheery robot that she is today.

Personality-wise, she suffers from fear of heights, as well as on deep pools of water (oceans, for example). Currently not in relationship with anyone, and not intend to be; Joy prefers to stay single for the rest of her life, if anything. Also has an instinctive fear of internal conflicts – whereby she hates to see her friends and family (back on Earth) physically fighting each other; verbal bickering doesn’t seem to affect her that much. With all that said, she has quite a dislike for downers or people that tends to think negatively, though she is indeed aware that other kinds of emotions can take over a person or a being at any one time.

"Gameplay" Stats and Abilities


Anna Joy Brigitte Priscilla Teresa Mavis Thanda Pwint Thinzar Nwe is an advanced all-rounded character. She is more than overpowered by herself, what with the ability to dish out a great deal of damage. This is further amplified by her passives that can grant her allies limitless potential and power. She is also one of the more unique characters whose skills (a few of it, not all) are dependent on a few of the statistics of Valentine Z, that is, her motherland. Furthermore, she is able to fulfil a role of a tank or a damage sponge times many, with her large health pool of 5,555,555 HP. Still, she can get overwhelmed by various debuffs and increased vulnerability to all sorts of elements.

Weapons and Equipment


Primary Weapon: Sunbeam
"Joy and Happiness, one that shines bright. Let them be a guiding light, and sear her foes."
A beam of sunlight that deals devastating damage. Takes 5.0 seconds to cast each shot, and is interruptible. Deals 5555 damage, resulting in an effective DPS of 1111. Additionally, in a radius of 5 meters along the path of the beam, enemies will be blinded for a duration of 8 seconds. Has a range of 80 meters, with 50% damage (and blind duration) falloff at 140 meters, 90% damage falloff at 200 meters. Does not pierce through multiple targets.

Passives


Happiness For Many
"To my friends around, I give you the power of determination. From it, you can resist what I can’t."
A buff that applies Physical and Elemental Damage Reduction only to her allies at 8 m AoE. Physical Damage Reduction is (Cheerfulness / 3)%, Elemental Damage Reduction is (Cheerfulness / 5)%. Cheerfulness: 97.94 Percentage Of Water Glasses Perceived Half-Full

A Balance of Vitality
"Her happiness, as bountiful as her vitality. It is however up to the rest, to fill in the gaps."
Anna has a maximum life of 5,555,555 which cannot be reduced or increased by any means. In exchange, she has a base -20% resistance to Physical Damage, -14% to all Elemental Resistances, and -10% to Poison Resistance.

Mass Orchestration
"A colourful quilt of life and stories, from everyone around the two planets. Racism does not have a place to stay in Valentine Z."
A buff that applies damage increase only to her allies at 8 m AoE. The passive aura applies to both melee and ranged heroes, with no limit. The damage increase is (Inclusiveness of Valentine Z / 50) %. Inclusiveness: 1,291.33 Mandela-Wollstonecraft Non-Discrimination Index

Actives


Revitalization
"Be healed and fight on!"
Anna restores (15 * log_10(Compassion of Valentine Z)) % worth of HP to herself, as well as to the allies around her at 4 m area of effect. Has a casting time of 1.20 seconds, with 10 second cooldown. Compassion: 357.96 Kitten Softness Rating

Softened Resolve
"It is equally important to alleviate and negotiate the other side, while also inspiring one’s own side."
Anna reduces 8.5 * e^(0.5 * log_6(Niceness of Valentine Z)) % of the base damage of the enemies around her in a 20 m area of effect. Has a casting time of 1.00 seconds, with 12 second cooldown. Niceness: 249.14 average smiles per day

Light Frenzy
"Anger and Rage are not the only motivators in this world."
Increases Anna’s Sunbeam attack speed by 150% – from one shot every 5 seconds to one shot every 2 seconds. Also takes 10% extra damage from all the attacks. 0.50 sec casting time, lasts 20 sec, 25 sec cooldown.

Sunburst
"Passion of a thousand suns. Joy of a thousand passions."
Deals 1000 fire damage per second for a total duration of 8 seconds in a line, with a range of up to 100 meters and piercing all through it. Heals Anna at a rate of 1% HP per sec. 0 sec casting time, 40 sec cooldown.

Class

HP

Magazine Size

Damage Per Hit (DPH)

Rate of Fire (ROF) / Hits per second

Damage Per Second (DPS)

All-rounded

5 555 555

55

5555

0.2

1111

Primary Attack: A beam of sunlight that blinds enemies for 1 sec. Takes 2 seconds to charge and is 100% accurate. Has a range of 40 meters, does not pierce.
Prism (Passive): Attacks bounce to a nearby enemy, up to 5 jumps. Each jump deals 1/5th of the original damage, and seeks the nearest enemy at 8 m radius.
Beacon of Hope (Passive): Valentine Z’s Niceness, Compassion, and Cheerfulness statistics has positive effects on the health, stats, and the abilities of Anna.
Happiness and Determination (Passive): Damage Reduction effect to Anna & her allies at 4 m AoE. The effect is (Cheerfulness / 2)% reduction. Currently 47%.
Revitalization: Anna restores (13 * log(Compassion)) % worth of HP to herself, as well as to the allies around her at 4 m AoE. Currently at 72.40% of Max. HP.
Softened Resolve: Anna reduces 0.1 * e^(0.33 * log(Niceness)) % of base damage of the enemies around her at 6 m AoE. Currently at 55.75% of base damage.
Fade: Teleports 3 m in any given direction. Location and Trail are not given away to the enemies, but allies can still see it. Anna has free pathing during Fading.
Light Frenzy: +150% attack speed for the Primary Attack, at the expense of taking 10% extra damage from all the attacks. Lasts for 6 seconds, uninterruptible.
Sunburst (Ultimate): 1000 damage per sec for a total duration of 8 seconds in a line, while healing Anna at a rate of 1.5% HP per sec. Interruptible as normal.

Name: Cyan “Le Gros et Adorable Chat” Otis Jean-Joël Noel Clérisseau Sylvain Marian Rene Jedrissa Xi. Lecerf, Derde Verpersoonlijking van De Sierlijke und Verwonderlijk Feline Utopia ov Valentine Z (The Third Personification of The Graceful and Wonderful Feline Utopia of Valentine Z)
Age: Chronologically: 91 (b. 1997); Physical: 6
Personality: Cheerful, Happy, A little lazy. Your typical cat, but blue, and understands humans.
Height: 152.40 cm (5 feet) (Pre-Valentian Era); 304.80 cm (10 feet) (Valentian Era)
Weight: 100 kg

A cat with the behaviours of a human – knows human languages, eats human food, and most importantly, all adorable with his little meows and overall relaxed nature. Cyan Otis Lecerf, or just Cyan before the Valentian name convention takes place, is a normal cat living in [data missing] during the pre-Valentian Era. His claim to fame, eventually ending up in the good hands of the Valentians, have a rather complicated one.

When Cyan was first born in the suburbs area, he did not seem to remember who exactly his mother or his father was. With the war going on, most of the people did not exactly care for keeping track of stray animals. Cyan had an amnesiac moment of who he was, or what he was supposed to be, considering his fur color, as well as being too big for a cat. For everyone else, they passed off Cyan simply as an anomaly – extraordinarily big for a cat with a height of 5 feet when he stands on two feet, as he usually does. Other than occasionally feeding him, no one else took note of him and let him be as a stray, given the war.

It would once again be the correct and exact timing of Fate that would save him. One night, a particular now-Valentian by the name of Jolyn Helen Ceeta was doing her mission in the country Cyan was in – tasked with catching the counterintelligence who was sabotaging the employer that she was working for at that moment. The perpetrators high-tailed away from the area of incident, and Jolyn was too late to catch them. Nearly, at least. At that moment, Cyan happened to be in the area of an incident and decided to explain to Jolyn on what he knows. What followed was perhaps a tedious 60 seconds whereby there was a form of mutual unintelligibility happening – Cyan understood what exactly Jolyn was saying, in English and in French, while Jolyn had to contend with a series of “Meow”s that she had no idea to translate. Running out of options, Jolyn took Cyan to one of her many safe houses and handed him a pen and paper. It was at that moment that Jolyn managed to find out what exactly was missing from her missions, and the fact that these perpetrators that Jolyn has been looking for was in plain sight of Cyan all these time. “Talk about Chekov’s Gun!” she remarked to herself, thanking Cyan and given the dangerous nature of her mission, told him to stay in that spot he has always been in. “I promise I will come back for you soon,” Jolyn said, leaving him in his own streets.

A few more months have passed, and Cyan waited. And waited, and perhaps waited even more. He lived, he ate, he slept, just like any cat would. Sometimes he would tear a little, scared by the constant barrages of gun sounds and screams in the distance. He went back to Jolyn’s safehouse every night, expecting her. No one, he thought to himself. He was getting increasingly hopeless. As promised, however, someone was coming in from the front door, and it was none other than Jolyn. The two let out a hug and high-tailed out of the house, with Jolyn explaining that things are going to get a lot more hectic.

The war and the nukes happened anyway, with Jolyn and Cyan safely behind the Valentian lines. They poured one out for the lost ones, Cyan eternally thankful towards Jolyn and with the latter adopting him as a pet cat. They then made their way back and joined the rest of the Valentians, eventually with Valentijn taking an interest in the blue cat.

As it turns out, Cyan seems to be an experiment from the CIA-equivalent of the world before it got lost in a hellfire. I don’t seem to know exactly why they picked Cyan, but it would seem that they are working on a spy animal – a sapient animal that can act as any other household pet and simply to go around and live their life as one while feeding and reading useful information as an inconspicuous being. However, Cyan was the first prototype that they have unfortunately did not work too well towards, resulting in him still getting the sapience, BUT with the inability to talk in anything else other than a rapid string of meows, on top of growing in size and having blue fur. It is so weird, but you know, people have tried various things in war times before. Gwen out!


Image of Cyan. Credit: Xilam Animations.
Read factbook

So Klarissa represents Nature, Anna represents Joy and Happiness, and Cyan would represent our love for cats. :3

-----

On that note, I would run for Forest Keeper as Alanis Star, but... some other time. Hell week (exams and projects galore, yay!) is coming to me IRL, and I don't think you want to see your Forest Keeper breaking down or disappearing too often. :P

On another note, I would like to ask... how long does a Forest Keeper runs for between the elections?

Valentine Z wrote:...On another note, I would like to ask... how long does a Forest Keeper runs for between the elections?

The terms are six months long.

Turbeaux wrote:The terms are six months long.

Ahh... yep, no-go from me! RL is going to be a little hard for me this year. Apart from Term 5 being overall difficult... I also have a surgery due, which will hospitalise me for a few days, then a month-long medical leave.

That's all fine, but... jeez, I'll live with an itchy chin and only being able to be liquid food for those months.

Sorry if this went serious all of a sudden. :/

Chan island wrote:

In addition, I promise that Forest will start guided tours of NSG, presented by yours truly, because apparently that's where I've decided to spend most of my NationStates time these days.

It's OK mate, the first step to overcoming a problem is acknowledging you have one!

Each day at a time, each day at a time. I'd reccommend browsing the below the line comments on literally any newspaper for 5 minutes a day as an effective substitute for NSG, before eventually weaning yourself off that too.

I'm 7th for trout now! Slowly but steadily rising up the ranks!
Can't wait for spring break though.

Sapnu puas wrote:I'm 7th for trout now! Slowly but steadily rising up the ranks!
Can't wait for spring break though.

Congrats

«12. . .1,4081,4091,4101,4111,4121,4131,414. . .2,6342,635»

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